Things aren’t looking too good for the Chicago Bears and their hopes of landing a difference-making receiver in free agency. Already the Miami Dolphins took Jarvis Landry off the market. He was franchise tagged. Expectations are the Jacksonville Jaguars will soon follow with Allen Robinson. This despite him finishing last season on injured reserve with a torn ACL. The herd is thinning out fast.
Most would agree the biggest name left is Sammy Watkins. The 24-year old had a resurgent 2017 with the Los Angeles Rams. Though he had just 593 yards receiving, he scored eight touchdowns. Six of those were scored in the final eight games of the season. Clearly, he was starting to regain his old form after two frustrating seasons marred by injury in Buffalo.
The problem is the Rams saw the same thing everybody else did. That would make Watkins an obvious choice for their franchise tag as well, right? Not so fast. It turns out there may be a road block to that simple solution for L.A. One that could open the door for the Bears to pounce.
Lamarcus Joyner could help Chicago Bears have shot at Watkins
The franchise tag is one of the most useful tools in the arsenal of any team, enabling them to keep their best players off the market. Except sometimes there are occasions where multiple top players are coming out of contract at the same time. There is only one tag, so it forces a team to choose. That may be the case for the Rams. Watkins isn’t the only one they have to consider. Safety Lamarcus Joyner is also poised to leave as well.
Subscribe to the BFR podcast and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Network believes if the team was forced to make a choice, they’d go for Joyner.
The Rams might be forced to weigh using the franchise tag on either WR Sammy Watkins or S Lamarcus Joyner. In that scenario, I believe they go with Joyner and Watkins hits the market. pic.twitter.com/yDFMLLN1Kx
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 22, 2018
That may seem baffling to some but it shouldn’t be. Joyner was superb in 2017 for the Rams. He intercepted three passes, defended nine others, made 49 tackles and forced a fumble. Pretty good for somebody who’d never played safety until this past season. He was one of their most reliable players. One could argue losing him would hurt far worse than losing Watkins.
This would mean the Rams have until 3:59 on March 14th to secure one of them to a long-term extension so they can use the tag on the other. Otherwise one of them is hitting the market. A source informed me the Bears are aware of this situation and are watching carefully.
“The focus has redirected to Sammy Watkins and Marqise Lee. They want both and will go all out for both barring the event Sammy gets tagged.”
Watkins has his red flags, most notably with his health. At the same time he’s a genuine deep threat with a nose for the end zone, two things the Bears don’t have.
