Bears not paying Allen Robinson will have ripple effect

If the Chicago Bears don’t give receiver Allen Robinson a long-term deal, it’ll have consequences throughout the entire locker room.

Nobody should cry for someone being paid $17.8 million for a season’s worth of work. Yet Allen Robinson has every reason to feel disrespected.

Robinson, 27, has been nothing but a productive, high-quality pro throughout his NFL journey. The former Penn State star has amassed three 1,000-yard campaigns and five of at least 750 yards. This is in spite of his starting quarterbacks being Mitch Trubisky, Nick Foles and Blake Bortles between his stints with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears.

Now, after consecutive 1,000-yard years with the Bears, he’s been relegated to the franchise tag. Robinson plans to play on the tag if need be. He should be absolutely furious with general manager Ryan Pace if he’s not offered in the realm of $20 million per season with at least 50 percent of his contract guaranteed, putting him in line with other top players at his position.

Yet despite the tenuous situation, Robinson remains focused on the goal at hand of getting the Bears back into the playoffs and this time, past the first round. Talking on NFL Network this Wednesday, the former Pro Bowl talked about his priorities heading into training camp, per NFL.com:

“We’ll see. I think the biggest thing like, again, like I said, just about going out there this year, having fun, making plays, trying to help this team get back into the playoffs. I think that’s the main thing. That’s what I’ve set out during the course of this offseason. Every time I get on the field, into my workouts and things like that, it’s how can I get better? How can I help put this team, how can I help put this offense in a better situation than we were in last year?”

If the Bears don’t pay Robinson, it sends a horrible message for the room. It says a player can outperform both his contract and expectations — which were considerable when Robinson signed in 2018 — and it won’t get you big money in Chicago.

For Pace, the message is as bad as eventually losing Robinson. The Bears must consider all angles, understand the tone a signed long-term deal would set at the outset of camp, and act accordingly.

Nobody should cry for someone making $18 million for a season’s worth of work. But if Robinson doesn’t get paid appropriately into the future, he should start thinking about new real estate.