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2021 NFL Draft: Potential Bears first-round target runs blistering 40-yard dash

The Chicago Bears are headed for a 2021 free agency and draft cycle with a big need at wide receiver that could become even bigger if Allen Robinson isn’t re-signed.

Robinson, who’s expected to be hit with the franchise player tag, has been the center of a Bears contract squabble since the start of the 2020 regular season, and there’s been no indication that GM Ryan Pace wants to end it anytime soon.

Even if the Bears tag Robinson, it doesn’t mean he’ll be back in Chicago for the 2021 season. Pace could use the tag in an effort to trade A-Rob rather than lose him for nothing on the open market, and if that’s the case, the Bears will have no choice but to make wide receiver one of their primary targets in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft.

One player who’s been consistently mocked to Chicago at No. 20 overall is Minnesota wideout, Rashod Bateman. The gifted Golden Gopher isn’t mentioned among the top three of four pass-catchers in this year’s draft by the mainstream media, but his game film is a display of Keen Allen-like traits and, in my opinion, a surefire first-round pick.

And while the draft narrative so far suggests Bateman is a certainty to be on the board when the Bears are on the clock, his recent workout numbers could be changing that.

Bateman enjoyed a fantastic 2019 season when he totaled 60 catches for 1,219 yards and 11 touchdowns, and while his 2020 season — which began as an opt-out — didn’t live up to those numbers, his resume is that of a high-end WR1 in the NFL.

Bateman is a name all Bears fans need to circle as a legitimate possibility to join the roster this April, assuming of course that he doesn’t run and jump his way to a higher first-round grade.