Allen Robinson Focuses on Season and Himself

After being at odds all last year with the Bears when he wanted a new contract, wide receiver Allen Robinson appears more resolute and focused with less than a month left until the deadline for a new deal to be done this year.

Allen Robinson wasted no time and made it entirely clear.

"Yeah, I'll be here for training camp on time," the Bears wide receiver said before Wednesday's minicamp practice.

Robinson didn't hold out of minicamp, so it would have been unlikely he'd hold out of training camp even if he is playing on a franchise tag. It's still possible the Bears could get him a new contract before the July 15 deadline, but he isn't talking much about the topic.

"I don't have any updates or nothing like that," Robinson said about a possible contract. "At the end of the day, it's out of my control. It's not what I can control.

"Right now, I'm just focusing on things I can control, coming back, being the best player I can be, trying to help the offense continue to improve. That's the main focus for me right now, just controlling what I can. Helping myself to be better will help this team to be better and obviously will help us from an organizational standpoint be better than we have in the past couple of years."

It's possible Robinson could play out the season on the franchise tag and be a free agent next year, or even tagged again.

"With that being a possibility, that is what it is," Robinson said. "Obviously it's a possibility. That's fine. It is what it is. Like I said before, my main focus right now is continuing to get better."

Robinson called holding out counter productive.

"Being able to control whatever I can, not setting myself back in any way, not forfeiting any money in any way, those are all things that go into the fact of what I want to do and the things I want to accomplish," Robinson said. "Not only team-wise, but personally, it's just something that makes sense."

Although Robinson hasn't worked with the team during the offseason, his conditioning impressed coach Matt Nagy.

"The one sneaky thing about A-Rob that I think is pretty cool is No. 1, even if he's not here, you know he's working his tail off and, No. 2, he's always in great shape," Nagy said. "And we noticed that today."

Robinson has some goals and just because it's his seventh season and eighth year in the NFL doesn't mean he has stopped improving.

"Focusing on some deeper routes, the transitions, those specific aspects of my game, being able to add a few more yards to my per-catch average, being able to turn some 8-yard catches into 12-yard catches, being able to create more first downs, and also focusing on myself in the red zone," he said, listing a few goals."

Robinson was 137th in the league (3.4-yard average) for 2020 in average yards after the catch but that included all players and not just wide receivers. He was only 83rd in average depth of target (9.6 yards).

With some receivers this would appear a flaw but it's possible in his case it's more a symptom of an inept offense or inept quarterback, because many other Bears receivers had the same troubles.

For instance, even with his great speed Darnell Mooney was only 49th in average depth of target (11.5) and was only 103rd in average yards gained after receptions with 4.2.

Robinson's other goals?

"Being able to make sure I'm not only honing in on the physical standpoint, but just honing in on what opponents are trying to do to us in the red zone, and how I can be better and how I can assist my team more in the red zone when we do get down there," Robinson said.

Robinson tied for 39th in the NFL red-zone catches with seven and tied for 28th in red-zone touchdown catches with four.

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