Alshon Jefferey
What the Non-Exclusive Franchise Tag Does?
The Bears decided to slap the non-exclusive tag on Alshon, this means that any team other than the Bears that signs him has to give up two 1st Round Draft Picks. This is a steep price and all but eliminates the chances a team mortgages their future for a WR1 that heavily underperformed last season. The teams with stockpiled picks that could make a run at Alshon without hurting their future have no WR1's on their roster. The problem? Alshon severely disappointed last year. Worse, it was in a year that Jay Cutler played pretty well (for once). Alshon could not get the separation he needed because he was facing tougher CBs. Brandon Marshall took that attention away from Alshon the year before last, and it showed that Alshon's hype had a lot to do with the Bears' WR tandem.
If a team paid the picks for Alshon, and had a WR1 with equal or better ability compared to Jefferey then we could see a resurgence in his value. Alshon would easily become a top 10 WR if the quarterback at that team was viable. This is purely speculation though. My bet is that he stays with the Bears, and that's bad news for Alshon.
Why does being with the Chicago Bears hurt Alshon Jefferey?
We saw how Alshon played last year, and he seemed to be lacking in something. He could come back next year and be physically more dominant, he is playing for a contract so he might outperform expectations (as most players tend to do). Last year his 57 receptions for 807 yards was far less than the Above-1000 yards he had the years before. The main problem is the lack of Touchdowns down 6 from 2014. The Bears offense looked abysmal and without some top free agent splashes there is no chance Alshon gets relief. Since Alshon is now set to take up so much cap room because of the franchise tag its clear the offense will not see a touchdown uptick. The possible departure of Matt Forte, and transition to Jeremy Langford will only decrease efficiency, and the options available in Free Agency will not compensate for the black hole of talent that is the Bears offense.
