Bears Don't Franchise Tag Allen Robinson, Making Wide Receiver a Free Agent

Bears don't tag Allen Robinson, making him a free agent originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

The Bears have officially opted not to franchise tag Allen Robinson. Tuesday’s deadline came and went without Ryan Poles placing the tag on their No. 1 wide receiver, making Robinson a free agent.

The team was not expected to tag Robinson, or reach an agreement on a new deal before Tuesday’s deadline, meaning the Bears will move with Darnell Mooney as the only wide receiver under contract who played significant snaps last season.

NFL free agency will get underway on March 16.

Other top-tier receivers were tagged by their respective teams on Tuesday, including Davante Adams and Chris Godwin. Mike Williams and the Chargers were reportedly able to come together for a contract extension, too.

Given the way things shook out, Ryan Poles will now have a smaller pool of wide receivers to consider signing when free agency opens next week. Whether that means he will take a big swing on a player like Amari Cooper一 who is expected to be released by the Cowboys一 or spreads out his money with a few mid-tier signings is unclear, however.

The Bears initially signed Robinson to a three-year, $42 million deal in 2018. It was one of the best free agent signings in Ryan Pace’s career, as Robinson caught 255 passes for 3,151 yards and 17 touchdowns over those three seasons.

But Robinson and the Bears couldn’t come to an agreement on a new deal after 2020, so Robinson played under the tag in 2021, earning $17.8 million for the year. Robinson made it clear throughout the offseason that he did not want to play under the tag, and he ended up having one of the worst seasons of his career.

He was limited to 38 catches for 410 yards and one score in 12 games. All of those figures were new career lows, discounting the 2017 season when Robinson tore his ACL in Week 1.

Click here to follow the Under Center Podcast.