The New England Patriots need a wide receiver and Allen Robinson could be available.
The New England Patriots opened their 2020 NFL season with a very solid and sometimes dominant win against the Miami Dolphins. Although the Patriots were able to win, the offense looked lackluster when it came to the passing game. One thing they could do to accelerate Cam Newton and the passing game would be to go out and trade for Chicago Bears wide receiver Allen Robinson. Should the team make such a bold move? In one word, yes.
Although Robinson and his agent have denied any trade request, the star receiver did indeed remove mentions of the Chicago Bears franchise from his Instagram and Twitter accounts on Tuesday.
Robinson appears to be unhappy with negotiations aimed at a contract extension. He has since proclaimed he would like to finish the season in Chicago, but if the team and receiver were to reach an insurmountable impasse, it is still possible the Bears would consider trading him.
If Robinson were to be available, it would all the sense in the world for the Patriots to trade for him. The team has a need for a lead wide receiver to pair with Julian Edelman. They invested a first-round pick in the 2019 draft in N’Keal Harry but the results have been uneven at best for Harry. Add this into his durability questions, and you have to wonder if the Patriots can feel confident in Harry being the player to lead them into life after Edelman.
Now that the team has seen what Cam Newton can do with his legs, they should give him more weapons for his arm.
Adding Robinson would solve this dilemma since he is still just 27 years old and he has size at 6-2 and 220 pounds. He matches Harry’s size while adding more athleticism and a better route running.
Robinson has one Pro Bowl to his name and he has two seasons over 1,000 yards in his career. Robinson has made all of his accomplishments with Blake Bortles and Mitchell Trubisky as his starting quarterbacks. Even if the Patriots move on from Cam Newton after this season, Jarrett Stidham should still be able to match the consistency (or lack thereof) of those two quarterbacks.
Allen Robinson would have an easier time getting acclimated to the Patriots
In most previous seasons, the worry about bringing in a new receiver to the Patriots would be concerns over learning the offense and gaining Tom Brady’s trust. None of these should be a major issue this season as New England has changed up their offense to better suit Newton and he has done everything possible to get on the same page as his receivers.
Bringing in Robinson now would allow the two of them to continue to grow in the offense together for at least this season and perhaps allow the Patriots the opportunity to evaluate whether or not they want to make a long-term commitment to the duo.
This would also allow Harry time to continue to grow without the pressure of being the first or second option in the passing game. Having a big pairing of Robinson and Harry would be reminiscent of when Newton had Kelvin Benjamin and Devin Funchess.
The Patriots have draft picks to spare since they have all but their sixth-round draft pick in the upcoming 2021 draft. In addition, the team is projected to have an additional third and two fourth-round picks due to the free-agent departures of Tom Brady, Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins. Along with their draft capital, the team also has the salary cap space to fit in Robinson’s contract without the need to jettison any additional salary money.
Considering the team’s history with drafting and developing receivers, the Bill Belichick and Nick Caserio should be on the phone with the Bears daily inquiring about Robinson. Unless the team wants a full reboot, it just makes too much sense.