Bears Reserving Franchise Tag for Alshon Jeffery

The Bears are expected to make the most obvious move of the offseason by placing the Franchise Tag designation on Wide Receiver Alshon Jeffery. This move comes after earlier reports indicated that General Manager Ryan Pace was "actively and aggressively negotiating" a long-term deal with the South Carolina product.

In the wake of Matt Forte's departure and the lack of experience from #7 overall pick Kevin White, Jeffery is the only established playmaker on a team in need of creating an offensive identity. He has amassed 12 games of 100 yards in his 4-year career including a team record 249 yards against the Minnesota Vikings in 2013.

The Franchise Tag for the Wide Receiver position is expected to be around $14M for the year. While Pace and Jeffery work on a long term deal, check out Spotrac's cache of WR deals to get an idea of what Alshon's deal might look like. TY Hilton signed a 5 year, $65M deal with $28M guaranteed while Demaryius Thomas & Dez Bryant signed virtually the same deal with 5 years for $70M with $43.5M and $45M guaranteed respectively.

Are you happy the Bears are expected to apply the Franchise Tag to Alshon? Do you think Ryan Pace should execute a long-term deal?

(Editor's Note: The Bears have not applied the tag as of yet; the tag has been reserved for use on Jeffery pending the reaching of a long-term deal.)