The window is closing for an Allen Robinson contract

This shouldn’t be that surprising considering the Chicago Bears and wide receiver Allen Robinson were unable to come up with an agreement on a contract extension for well over a year now, but yesterday Tom Pelissero reported on NFL Network’s Total Access that it’s “unlikely” that a long-term deal will happen before the July 15 deadline.

A-Rob signed the franchise tag back in March, so if an agreement isn’t reached before Thursday (7/15/21), he’ll then play the 2021 season for $17.98 million. Pelissero said the two sides haven’t talked about a new deal in months, so when the season ends Robinson and the Bears can do this long-term contract dance again, or the Bears can tag him one more time.

NFL Insider Adam Caplan (from SiriusXM and Fox Sports) Tweeted that “there’s been a difference of opinion on his value (has been that way for a few years). Terrific player, but the team doesn’t value him (by money) as other teams would.”

Robinson turns 28 in a month — still the prime of his career — so keeping him around while the team breaks in what they hope is a franchise quarterback in Justin Fields seems like such a no-brainer.

Then again, we’ve seen general manager Ryan Pace pass on paying wide receivers in the past, so perhaps this is just his modus operandi.

The salary cap is expected to jump back up in 2021, so at this point it truly does come down to what Robinson expects as a number one vs what the Bears are willing to pay for his skill set.

Robinson’s story still has plenty of time to be written in Chicago, so maybe a year with Fields will be what it takes for both sides to see the value in him remaining a Bear.