Chicago Bears Should Franchise Tag Alshon Jeffery

The Chicago Bears should apply the franchise tag to wide receiver Alshon Jeffery for the 2017 season.

Wednesday opened a two-week window where NFL teams can apply the franchise tag to their free agents.  The Chicago Bears should apply the tag to wide receiver Alshon Jeffery for the second straight season.

The Bears applied the franchise tag to Jeffery for the 2016 season, making it a “prove it” season and about all he proved is that he can miss games and sit out on a PED suspension, all while earning a cool $14.6M from the tag minus the four game checks he lost from his suspension.  So why not let Jeffery walk in free agency?

The problem is, Jeffery is an immensely talented playmaker and playmakers are at a premium at Halas Hall.  The Bears can ill afford to let a talent like Jeffery walk out the door.  They could certainly try to draft another wide receiver, but with so many other holes to fill, it doesn’t make sense to create another hole.

Kevin White’s injury woes the last two seasons certainly haven’t helped put the Bears into a position to be able to move on from Jeffery.  If Jeffery had an availability problem, White has an availability crisis.  Maybe the third time is the charm for White, a former top-10 pick who was expected to ascend to #1 receiver status.

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That brings us back to Jeffery.  The idea of one more season of Jeffery is appealing while you sort out the wide receiver position to see if White can bounce back healthy.  You’re almost certain to have a new quarterback in the fold, whether it’s a rookie draft pick, a free agent or a trade target.  Any way you slice it, you want your new man under center to be in the best possible position to succeed.  Having a weapon like Jeffery on the outside helps whoever you install at quarterback.

So why not just sign Jeffery to a 5-year contract extension and be done with it for the long haul?  Well, for starters, Jeffery wants to get paid like a top-5 wide receiver and frankly there are some serious questions about a proper price tag.

Last season, Jeffery ranked second among wide receivers with $14.6M, trailing only AJ Green whose average salary was $15M per season.

The guys behind Jeffery?  Julio Jones ($14.25M), and Dez Bryant/ Demaryius Thomas ($14M) per season.  Next on the list is TY Hilton who has a $65M total contract and an average of $13m per season.  That might be the ballpark for Jeffery if he and his people are willing to listen.

In the meantime, the Bears could just go with a second franchise tag on Jeffery.  It’s not an unprescedented move, but it’s rare that teams use the franchise tag on the same player in consecutive seasons.  Since the franchise tag has been implemented in 1993, the tag has been used on the same player 14 times in consecutive seasons.

Another franchise tag comes with a pay raise for Jeffery, who would get 120% of his 2016 salary or approximately $17.5M for the 2017 season.  With the cap space the Bears have, they could certainly afford him.  Getting one more year to figure this out just makes sense.  We’ve got until March 1st to see if that’s what Ryan Pace decides to do.