This should’ve been the easiest deal in the history of contract extensions.
Allen Robinson is a 1,000-yard wide receiver who does everything right and wants to stay with the Bears long enough to break all their franchise records for receiving — a task that’ll probably take him only another 3-4 years.
He is in the prime of his career, having turned 27 just two weeks ago.
He has been saying for nearly a year that he wants to commit to the Bears on an extension rather than test the market and go to the highest bidder.
But here they are eight months into the offseason and there’s no deal.
Why?
“That’s pretty much out of my control,” Robinson said Tuesday. “Again, I can’t pinpoint anything. That’s not really of my concern.
“My main focus is on [the opener] and this year, and I truly mean that. Unless any contract things change or anything like that, I don’t really have an answer for that.”
It has long been assumed that Bears general manager Ryan Pace would get the Robinson deal done this offseason — and he has finalized one at the end of the preseason each of the last four years, so that seems to be his preferred window for this — but it’s hard to think of that as a certainty at this point.
A month and a half ago, Robinson told ESPN Radio his agent hadn’t heard from the Bears and “we’re not necessarily anticipating hearing anything at this point.”
You’d think a team as starved for a big-time receiver as the Bears traditionally have been to realize when they have a gift like Robinson. In just 29 games, he is already in their top 40 all-time in receiving and would crack the top 15 this season if he matches his 2019 yardage.
His 98 catches, 1,147 yards and seven touchdowns last season — with Mitch Trubisky at quarterback, no less — made him the Bears’ first 1,000-yard man since Alshon Jeffery in 2014.
Did you know they went a decade without one? And this wasn’t back in the day when gas was a nickel and they ran the T-formation. It was 2002 (Marty Booker) through ’12 (Brandon Marshall).
One guy who doesn’t need all this spelled out for him is Bears coach Matt Nagy, who blurted, “I hope so,” when asked if Robinson is part of the team’s plans beyond this season.
“I think he shows what he can do,” Nagy said. “For us, that’s Ryan and [director of football administration Joey Laine]. That’s their world; that’s Allen’s world. There’s a whole process to that.
“But I know how we all feel. I know how he feels. When you produce the way that he produces and are the type of person he is, those are the type of people that you want for a while.”
