Allen Robinson

Allen Robinson had a lot of offers on the table this offseason. The former Jacksonville Jaguar was coming off a season-ending injury, but that did not keep other NFL teams from showing interest in the former Pro Bowler. First Coast News' Mike Kaye had an exclusive interview with Robinson lately and the talented wideout explained he drew interest from the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns early on in the process. With both of those teams having an abundance of cap space, that should not be too surprising.

But Robinson revealed a surprising other team that showed interest in him: the Green Bay Packers. It ultimately came down to the Bears and Packers with Robinson choosing to join Chicago.

"With all things being equal, Chicago was a place I had my eyes on from a football standpoint," Robinson told Kaye. "It's a spot with a lot of benefits as far as it being close to home. The close-to-home thing was a very minimal factor but it was still a factor."

Robinson was born in Detroit, Michigan, roughly a 4.5-hour drive from Chicago, and attended Penn State University. While not an immediate drive close to home, Chicago is closer to Detroit than Green Bay. More important than the proximity to where he grew up, Robinson was drawn in by new Bears head coach Matt Nagy and the offense he runs.

"For me, going into the whole free agency process, Chicago was definitely a team I had my eye on, from the standpoint that they had just hired Coach [Matt] Nagy," Robinson said, via Kaye. "Coach Nagy was a big part of it ... I'm a big fan of his system and his offense."

Nagy, of course, spent the last few seasons in Kansas City as the offensive coordinator and was viewed as one of the brightest young minds in the game of football. Chicago hired him in early January to be its next head coach following the firing of John Fox. Nagy is expected to bring a complex and proven offense to a Bears organization that has struggled to find consistency on that side of the ball for decades.

At a historic school like Penn State, Robinson was electric at times. After appearing in 11 games and catching just three passes for 29 yards in 2011, Robinson broke out in a big way in 2012. As a sophomore he caught 77 passes for 1,018 yards and scored 11 touchdowns. The following year he caught 97 passes in 12 games for 1,432 yards with six touchdowns. He was then drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014.

As a rookie, he caught 48 passes for 548 yards with two touchdowns in 10 games with eight starts. The following season saw Robinson catch a career-high 80 passes for 1,400 yards with 14 touchdowns en route to a spot in the Pro Bowl. The next season he saw a dip in his production. In 16 starts he caught 73 passes for 883 yards with six touchdowns. In his lone appearance in 2017 before his ACL injury, he caught one pass for 17 yards.

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The Bears have been used to playing second fiddle to the Packers in the NFC North for the better part of the last decade-plus. It clearly will all come down to what Robinson can do on the field, but Bears fans have to feel good knowing Robinson was more drawn to what is happening in Chicago than with the team up north.