Matt Forte may go M.I.A. if he's Franchised by the Bears

The entire situation is tied into the age of our defensive stars. Peanut, Briggs, Peppers, ’Lach…all approaching the twilight of their careers. Our realistic window for a superbowl run is 2 years, maybe 3.

If we give Forte that 20+ mil, it will make it increasingly difficult to upgrade at WR, LT and CB.

but I’d hate to see forte go…maybe a 3 year deal max though

A 1st and 3rd for him then yeah id trade him in a heartbeat. Maybe even for a 2nd and 3rd..depends on the offers

If he doesn’t play, he doesn’t get paid, iirc. If he refuses to play, let him sit the year and make nothing, then get rid of him in the offseason or if another team offers a nice trade.

He’s not the back to end all backs.

As others have said, he’s very good, but he’s not irreplaceable. We have depth at that position. Bell is pretty good. The money that would be used to secure Forte’s contract would be the same money we could very seriously use at other positions.

I would hold out this year. Because RBs do have a short shelf life he needs to get his big payday now. I would like them to re-sign him. I think he is excellent and I don’t think that he is as replaceable as most think but that is just my opinion.

I think Forte was on the right track until the media started yammering constantly about his contract. If I am not mistaken, he and the Bears were on the same page at the start of the season about not having contract talks until after the season. I love Forte, and would love to see him play out his career here, but if he is getting all lance briggs on us, oh well, we’ll have to find another way around

He’ll probably come down in price.

If he’s making these kinds of noises now, I say give him a respectable offer, and then if he declines, franchise him and let him sit if doesn’t want to work.

Threatening is not a productive negotiating tactic, especially when you’re not the one holding the checkbook.

He’s a top tier RB, and shown that he can get it done. He’s also coming off an injury and I would expect his value would reflect that. If Matt wants to be a team player, than take your $6Mil per year and quit whining about it. Pretty sure we could find a high quality back in FA for a lot less than that.

Forte is really good, but not irreplacable. which is fine.
However, there are few backs like him in the league…
mayb 20mil guaranteed is on the high side, but 17-18mil seems about right, especially with some decent incentives…

I think it’s reasonable, but also risky to tie up that much in a RB like a lot have said. Forte seems like a player who will play hard no matter his contract status, so it might not have an adverse effect on his play like most RBs who get paid.

I wouldn’t have a problem with them tagging him cause he’ll stand to lose a lot of money if he holds out.

Forte has been the workhorse for this organization. He listened to the line he was fed (by the Bears management) about being a team player and getting his reward and how the Bears reward their own players.
He has done nothing less than excel, he has never complained, and he has acted with class on and off the field.
For years he has worked as one of the most under-paid players in the NFL.

You can’t change horses mid-stream. Either you believe that a player has to play out his contract and should be rewarded on the next contract for past performance and future value, or you have a system where smart players will holdout when they have a value that is higher than their current contract. Forte had a fantastic rookie season – should he have held out then? Or should his next contract have at least some reward for his past performance?

Look, two years of Franchise Tags will cost somewhere around $14-16 million and the cap hits are immediate. Why not give a more cap friendly contract? It speaks volumes to players on the roster (hello, Mr. Briggs are you listening), and can help the Bears avoid messy contract holdouts in the future.

I say pay Forte. Pay him his value to the organization (on the field and off). Make a statement that the Bears really do reward their own. He is pretty irreplaceable, Bell did okay after the injury, but ask opposing defenses who they would rather line up against.

but a RB who only plays 11 games and doesn’t break 1000yrds rushing probably isn’t going to get a monster payday.

Yes I love Forte as a Bear, but if Forte doesn’t lower his expectations to a reasonable level, ‘Pay the Man’ should become ‘Trade the Man’.

I think renegotiating the contract should be a priority, and he should be paid according to his contributions, but I’m drawing the line at players threatening holdouts.

If he wants to sit for a year, yeah, go ahead, and good luck finding your massive contract, 27-year old running back, coming from a hold-out season after a knee injury. Anyone else would be surprised if he rejected the 13-14 Mills now, and then accepted 8-10 Mil à là Kreutz ?

The Bears can run block now and will likely be even better next year.
so it would not be all that difficult to replace his rushing production.
Forte is an excellent receiver out of the backfield
he has good hands and is one of two guys on the team you can count on to catch/not drop a pass.
It would be more difficult to replace that part of his game.

With Forte the Bears need two decent WR’s and a LT to have a potent Offense,
Forte is a proven commodity subtract him and you now have 4 holes to fill.

First, he’s more likely to get hurt if he doesn’t practice and then decides to play after a couple weeks of missing TC. Second, he stands to lose a lot of scratch if he does. DJax was slated to lose 30k per day if he held last summer. I believe it’s a percentage of a player’s salary. Third, he knows he plays a high-risk position- time isn’t on his or his agent’s side.

With the new CBA, team’s can call any player’s bluff with a carte blanche. He’ll most undoubtedly get tagged and won’t be able to do a darn thing about it except play.

because if you dont every other player will no longer be loyal to the Bears. Whats the point of giving it your best for so long and then get screwed over in the end?

as soon as rb,s get the big pay-out it,s like a curse. they come down with a major injury or do not produce.

The bears don’t sign forte. While we have other needs why would we trade away a young runningback that is our only weapon on offense besides cutler, that makes no sense so even if he gets franchised this year I’m cautiously optimistic hell get a new deal next year if not this year. I hope the new GM isn’t dumb enough to neglect his value

I know he wants money. He’s earned money. A LOT more than a second round pick has gotten. CJ2K earned his pay. Lack of production this year or not. He payed early to get payed later. If he didn’t produce afterward, so what? I’m a proponent of paying ppl for what they do. He clearly has yet to be compensated. He has a right to be upset at not getting real money and feeling undervalued whilst being the most productive member of our team by FAR.
I would not like a repeat of what happened when we relied on a certain #32 before. Kahlil Bell may turn out to be serviceable but he is no Matt Forte. I’d rather not gamble.
Good things are expensive. We need Forte—and for that matter, we also need Briggs. Otherwise my nick would be pretty stupid.
Anyway. There’s my two cents.