Darlington: Robinson Tag Could Get Ugly

Montucky

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The reason the Ravens are talking of trading Brown is that they cannot afford a 20 million dollar contract for anyone not named Lamar.
Actually the reason anyone is even talking about it is because Orlando Brown Jr. demanded a trade because he does not want to play right tackle again. Whether this was a hard trade demand or some form of brinksmanship nobody can really say.
 

CHIBEAR

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This is a different era of the NFL. Weather it's NFL players following the NBA's lead and/or the players having a larger voice through social media the franchise tag isn't what it used to be.

Think about it. Last year Jalen Ramsey and Yannick Ngakoue and Jamal Adams all forced their respective teams to trade them. This year we are seeing it with QBs being Stafford and Wentz (Stafford appears to be mutual, but they also had little leverage).

Personally I think the franchise tag changed after Kirk Cousins. That was an example where the player was forced to bet on themselves and the team ended up losing. Before that the tag was team leverage, now we have an example of how it can work for the player.

Anyway, if Robinson wants out the Bears should let him walk and target the next best player. Him leaving would create a large void, but it's would also be an opportunity for Mooney, Miller, Kmet, rookie and/or FA to fill.


LOL what the bears should just forgo the rules that benefit us and just let him walk ? After Alshon no way does this foolishness happen.

You tag him and expect him to show up and do his job while being paid top dollar .
 

rawdawg

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The reason the Ravens are talking of trading Brown is that they cannot afford a 20 million dollar contract for anyone not named Lamar.

Nah, it's because it doesn't make sense to pay 45Mil worth of offensive tackles. 20M to a WR >> 20M to a RT who doesn't want to play RT and isn't moving the guy at LT
 

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Robinson for Watson straight up then Robinson doesn't work out a deal and returns
 

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Smart move by Brown and his agent. Play well enough at LT and get paid like a good LT. Cant fault him or ARob in these situations
 

Montucky

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Smart move by Brown and his agent. Play well enough at LT and get paid like a good LT. Cant fault him or ARob in these situations
And its just as important to capitalize on the season he just had playing left tackle before he gets type-cast as a right tackle again. Either stay at left tackle and get paid like one next off-season, or get paid like a left-tackle now and play either right or left tackle. Both of those are really hard for the Ravens to do.

I know Brown Jr. has said its about ball and not about money but I'm pretty sure if a team printed him the same contract the Ravens just gave Ronnie Stanley he'd play right tackle without any fuss whatsoever.
 

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Robinson for Watson straight up then Robinson doesn't work out a deal and returns
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One full measure is usually better than two half measures. Baltimore picks late in the first, outside the realm where drafting for need is good draft strategy. It really all depends on a lot of things we cannot know right now. And like I said, if one team wants Robinson II that doesn't get the Bears anywhere. The Bears need a bidding war since it's becoming increasingly obvious that the Bears won't extend Robinson II long-term and that he has no intentions at all of playing on the franchise tag.
That's true if you're filling one spot. But I think in the case of WR, where at least four play regularly, not so much.

Also cost is a factor, where the two would almost certainly be cheaper than the one.

If your last sentence is accurate it's going to tougher to get a bidding war going.
 

Montucky

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That's true if you're filling one spot. But I think in the case of WR, where at least four play regularly, not so much.

Also cost is a factor, where the two would almost certainly be cheaper than the one.

If your last sentence is accurate it's going to tougher to get a bidding war going.
Devin Duvernay, Miles Boykin, Mark Andrews and Hollywood Brown might present enough receiving depth already in place for them to want to go quality over quantity. It's really hard to suss out what teams are going to do though, I do think the Ravens would prefer to be flexible with what they can draft in the first round. Late-first round wide receivers have not really worked out for them these last few years.
 

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You tag him and expect him to show up and do his job while being paid top dollar .
Exactly. Bears have all the leverage here, Robinson and his agent know it, he is just pissed off they aren't offering him what he thinks he is worth.

As much as I like him as a player, I am fine with a tag and trade if the Bears get a good offer. If not, he plays another year in a Bears uniform.
 

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Exactly. Bears have all the leverage here, Robinson and his agent know it, he is just pissed off they aren't offering him what he thinks he is worth.

As much as I like him as a player, I am fine with a tag and trade if the Bears get a good offer. If not, he plays another year in a Bears uniform.

Or he sits.
 

Montucky

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It would arguably be even worse for the Bears than it would be for Robinson II for him to actually play one season on the tag. This team needs two new offensive tackles and a new quarterback, it can't be throwing twenty million at one wide receiver.
 

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LOL what the bears should just forgo the rules that benefit us and just let him walk ? After Alshon no way does this foolishness happen.

You tag him and expect him to show up and do his job while being paid top dollar .
Wait a second, do you think not tagging Alshon was a bad thing? Seriously, without letting him walk you wouldn't have had the $ to sign a far better, younger WR in Robinson.

Just to map it over, what if Robinson walks, but you end up signing a younger Godwin, who ends up outplaying Robinson (the same way Robinson outplayed Alshon)?
 

Pegger

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The Ravens have the looming spectre of paying Lamar Jackson, who currently takes up just under two percent of their cap. Looking around the league at MVP and MVP caliber quarterbacks he's soon going to be taking up somewhere between fifteen and twenty percent of their cap. So long-term they are up against it even if it doesn't look like it now. They have already made Ronnie Stanley the highest paid offensive lineman in the league, they can't afford to pay Orlando Brown Jr. like a left tackle and also afford Lamar Jackson.

It makes sense for the Ravens to pack on payroll in the near-term while shedding long-term responsibilities. Brown Jr. is likely going to cost more than Allen Robinson II, since he's younger and quality left tackles are both scarcer and more important than quality wide receivers.

Opposite is true for the Bears; and Orlando Brown Jr. has one more year of his rookie deal, so whatever cap consequences of extending him won't be felt until next off-season when things will be looking much rosier for the Bears with regards to the cap.
Are you joking?

Staley ended the season on IR with a serious ankle injury. He might not be able to go at the start of the year.

This is the last year of Jackson's rookie deal. If the Ravens wait until next offseason to extend they will have over $100M cap room to play with. No worries on being able to afford Jackson.

For the Ravens having a healthy Lamar for 2021 has to be the most important job. With their being questions about Staley, why not tag Brown Jr. and next offseason if Staley regresses then they can choose between them?

Overall, I think you are trying to create a 'Bear friendly' scenario. The Ravens are in a great spot cap wise, so they are in the drivers seat. I can't say the same for the Bears.
 

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I'd expect Baltimore to sign a second tier FA WR and then draft another in the first or second.
Looking at their roster they do have some talent. Brown and Boykin are solid on the outside and Duvernay should be a solid slot. After that, they do involve their TEs and RBs a bit in the pass game, so it's not like there's a screaming NEED to add a WR.
 

Montucky

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Are you joking?

Staley ended the season on IR with a serious ankle injury. He might not be able to go at the start of the year.

This is the last year of Jackson's rookie deal. If the Ravens wait until next offseason to extend they will have over $100M cap room to play with. No worries on being able to afford Jackson.

For the Ravens having a healthy Lamar for 2021 has to be the most important job. With their being questions about Staley, why not tag Brown Jr. and next offseason if Staley regresses then they can choose between them?

Overall, I think you are trying to create a 'Bear friendly' scenario. The Ravens are in a great spot cap wise, so they are in the drivers seat. I can't say the same for the Bears.
The money to Stanley is already committed. Just because he got hurt doesn't mean they can back out of that commitment. Are they really going to sign Orlando Brown Jr. to a massive payday just in case the massive payday they just gave Ronnie Stanley doesn't pan out due to injury? Especially when Ronnie Stanley was arguably the best overall player at his position before the injury? Doubt that, seriously doubt that.

As for Jackson there's no way he plays on his fifth year option without an extension. Fifth year option for a Pro Bowler is at the franchise tag rate, which for quarterbacks has to be getting near thirty million these days. Next season is his last "cheap" season and they will probably lock him up before that sometime over the summer, same way the Chiefs saved themselves a massive crunch by locking up Mahomes a year early.

They could let Jackson walk I suppose, there's definitely an argument that he isn't worth twenty percent of a team's cap. But I doubt that happens.

Either way, next year starts a bit of a cap crunch for them. And its Brown Jr. demanding the trade, not the Ravens actively shopping him. Orlando Brown Jr. clearly has his eyes set on making the kind of money Ronnie Stanley just got, and there's arguably no team in the league in less of a position to give him that money than the team he's currently on.
 

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