If Allen Robinson is available, Washington should pounce originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
If Allen Robinson is actually available on the trade market, the Washington Football Team should try to acquire his services.
Of course, nobody actually knows if Robinson wants out of Chicago, or if Chicago would even trade the wide receiver, but plenty of things are known.
Robinson took any and all reference to the Bears off his social media profiles, and the seventh-year wide receiver is in the last year of his contract with seemingly no talk of a new deal.
Digging further into social media, in the past few days Robinson has liked the following tweets.
Now, a quick and big reminder that social media means nothing when it comes to pro football contracts. Robinson could follow the official Green Bay Packers account and like every tweet they put out and he'd still be under contract to the Bears through the remainder of the 2020 season.
And, another quick and big reminder that Robinson is the Bears best receiver and just caught five passes for 74 yards this past weekend. It's entirely possible if not probable that Chicago not only won't trade Robinson, but is working to extend his contract.
Ignoring those big reminders, however, there is a very fun scenario where Washington should make a run at Robinson.
Terry McLaurin is a stud, and Steve Sims is a nice piece, but Washington definitely needs help at receiver. The team offered Cowboys WR Amari Cooper a mountain of cash to leave for Washington, only Cooper refused the bag and stayed in Dallas.
In the draft, Washington added Antonio Gandy-Golden in the fourth round. He's talented and athletic but missed a big chunk of training camp with a concussion and faces a steep learning curve going from Liberty University to the NFL without any offseason work due to COVID.
If all that wasn't obvious, Washington just brought in four wide receivers for workouts. This week. After winning their first game.
So while it's unknown if Robinson wants out of Chicago or the Bears would even entertain offers, it is known Washington needs help at wideout.
What's a reasonable offer though?
An easy conversation could start with Washington's extra third-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. That pick came from trading Trent Williams to San Francisco back in April.
Robinson had a big year last year - 1,100 pass yards and seven TDs - but this is a rental. He's only under contract for 15 more games and then he's set for free agency.
If a third can't get a deal done, maybe Washington needs to reconsider. Any additional draft capital or a higher round pick for a rental doesn't make sense, unless there is a sense of confidence that the team could work out an extension with Robinson. He just turned 27 and ranks somewhere among the top 10/15 receivers in the NFL. He's worth the money.
And Washington has plenty of money to get a deal done.
Sitting with nearly $25 million in cap room for 2020, that number should increase in 2021 when Alex Smith's contract could come off the books. There is plenty of availability to pay Robinson.
Conceptually it's an exciting idea to trade for Robinson, and Washington actually has the need and the assets to make it work. Still, feels like a long shot.
Know what else was a long shot? Coming back from a 17-0 deficit in Week 1 agains the Eagles to win 27-17. And that just happened.
