Chicago Bears: Extending Cohen before Robinson is huge mistake

The Chicago Bears have had quite the week when it comes to contract talks, and one player may end up getting a deal before Allen Robinson.

All week long, the Chicago Bears have been in headlines not because they pulled off an impressive and miraculous comeback in Week 1, but because of a star player’s contract situation.

For weeks now, we have seen teams getting extensions done with some of their best players. It’s happening all around the league — except in Chicago.

General manager Ryan Pace has to have heard this message loud and clear by now: It is time to extend wide receiver Allen Robinson. The past week has been especially straining on the situation after Robinson removed all Bears content from his Instagram page and reportedly asked about a trade.

After his agent refuted that report, things started to calm down a bit. People are starting to believe that Pace and the Bears’ brass are going to get a deal done for Robinson, and hopefully soon. However, it may not come before one of Robinson’s teammates gets a new deal.

The Chicago Bears better be careful who they decide to pay first.

Running back Tarik Cohen is also in line for an extension, and while it didn’t happen Saturday, it appears as though it could happen soon enough. But, the Bears extending Cohen before Robinson? That makes absolutely no sense.

Pace is sending the wrong message to the fan base, here. Understand, Cohen is a fun guy. He’s a great personality and loves the fans. But, he has no where near the impact on this team as Robinson does.

Without Robinson, this offense would sputter worse than it has even with him at times. You’re looking at a guy who is in the top 10 of targets, receptions and contested catches (number one in that category) across the entire league since joining Chicago two and a half years ago.

Meanwhile, Cohen has not been the same guy since the 2018 season. He’s regressed if anything, and the Bears should be very weary of extending him. Not to say he isn’t valuable, but he plays the most replaceable position in football.

Not only is he replaceable, he’s replaceable at a much cheaper cost. The Bears could easily find another running back who does similar things as Cohen, and they could find it in the middle rounds of next year’s draft, if need be.

A Cohen extension, at this point in time, makes zero sense. He has to prove he can return to the type of player he was two seasons ago before the Bears start handing out dollar bills.

Robinson has done all he can to prove he’s worth the money — whatever money he wants, quite frankly. This team is so heavily dependent upon his contributions that they cannot afford to wait any longer. Robinson’s deal should be far and away more important than Cohen’s extension, period.