Bears Working to Sign Jeffery, NFL News

Bears coach John Fox said Monday on ESPN's NFL Live that the team is working to sign wide receiver Alshon Jeffery to a long-term deal.

Jeffery received the franchise tag from the club on Feb. 29. That guarantees the receiver $14.599 million in 2016, unless the two sides can finalize a multi-year agreement before the July 15 deadline.

"They're working at it as we speak," Fox said at the NFL owners meetings in Boca Raton, Florida. "Nobody wants to stay on the franchise tag [because] they [the NFL] make it kind of penalizing to do that. Anybody in the league understands that. But they are constantly working on that.

"Alshon is a guy we wanted back. He's a big target and a big-time player. He actually missed a lot of time for us last year. This will give us another year to figure out where he fits and how well he fits in our system. They're still working at the long-term deal. That is a work in progress, I'm sure, with every franchise-tagged player out there."

A league source confirmed that the Bears and Jeffery's representatives have engaged in multiple rounds of talks. Jeffery is not expected to jump at the first offer presented to him. The former second-round pick out of South Carolina has earned a substantial amount of off-the-field income since he joined the Bears four years ago. Also, with $14.599 million, Jeffery would be one of the NFL's highest paid receivers in 2016.

Jeffery appeared in just nine games last season, due to a variety of health setbacks that began in training camp, when he suffered a serious calf strain in a closed walk-through practice prior to Chicago's preseason opener. Jeffery missed all four exhibition games. In December, his season was shut down because of a hamstring injury.

Kraft Writes Letter to NFL Commissioner

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Monday that he wrote a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell over a month ago requesting that the league reinstate the draft picks stripped as part of the Deflategate penalties, as well as the four-game suspension of quarterback Tom Brady, but he didn't sound optimistic it would spark a change.

Kraft said his letter was in response to Goodell's remarks that if any new facts were learned, Goodell would reconsider the punishment of a 2016 first-round pick, 2017 fourth-round pick, the four-game suspension of Brady and a $1 million fine.

"I personally believe that when the league made their decision, they did not factor in the Ideal Gas Law. They admitted that publicly. They had a full year of being able to observe Tom Brady play with all the rules of whatever the NFL was, and make any judgments there," Kraft told reporters at the Boca Raton Resort. "We have laid it out pretty straightforward. And now it's up for them to decide."

Asked if Goodell responded to the letter, Kraft, who had fielded multiple questions on the topic, said he was moving on.