Forte considers sitting out exhibition games

**The Benjamin** · 08-07-2011, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

So is the player sitting out until he gets his contract, that is also called negotiating. Bet when that teams running game looks like junk in the first couple pre season games, JA will find a better time frame then "x time".
There is no starting RB on this team besides Forte and he knows it. Barber is a 3rd down back, and will struggle beyond that; ecpseically on SF's turf.
Forte sits out until he gets his, and no fan is going to complain about him, but about JA b/c they know why he is sitting out. This FO is losing a lot of credibility w/the players, and it's starting to show, from the turf(think this past weekend's call off has something to do with this?) to letting go/trading of key locker room guys, to the botched trade, to the benching of better players(Knox). And I guarantee Forte already knows the FO has little to no credibility w/the fanbase.

Apparently you are not seeing that I am complaining about him. Honor the damn contract that he signed. A player should never put himself ahead of the team.

A player sitting out hurts him, and the team. Especially with basically no training camp. He needs all the work he can get.

**Riczaj01** · 08-07-2011, 05:53 PM

In any other position I would agree Benj; the a RB has a exponetially small self-life in the NFL, expetionally one that gets used as much as Forte does; again it's normally rookie contract, big payday if your good, lucky to get another contract and if so league min. The only thing that Forte can do by playing/practicing is get hurt and not get the money he deserves.

And there is good precident for him doing this and getting his by sitting out. Emmitt Smith sat out all pre season/OTA's/Practice during one year of the SB runs. The team started 0-3 and looked bad. The coaches told the owners to get the deal done so they could get their rb back (the team knew how important he was even if fans don't) they got him signed that week, and they started winning again.

Forte knows this team is not going anywhere without him(much like Smith); if JA doesn't give him his the blame will fall squarely on JA when the team starts losing, again something Forte knows.

As for playing out his contract, a 2nd round player has little to know barganning when he comes in, he didn't have much choice or say in how/what he got paid. He's more then outplayed his contract, he's easily a top 5-10 rb in this league, and deserves to be paid like it, and this team is trying to cheap out by ont getting his deal done. If he were to get hurt before they got the deal he would stand 0 chance of getting that pay day. No he should sit, it's smart of him to do it.

**The Benjamin** · 08-07-2011, 05:58 PM

Has he outplayed his contract, sure. But does that mean he doesn't have to honor his word? Players bitch and complain when teams want them to re-negotiate the contracts cause they do poorly or they will be cut. So what do they do? The want to re-negotiate the deals when they out perform.

Funny how re-negotiation is fine when its what a player wants. But if you ask them to take a pay cut for their poor play, they usually refuse.

**Riczaj01** · 08-07-2011, 06:02 PM

Well ya, and the owners pull the same sentiment. I honestly don't think he would be doing this if JA had put his contract on the front burner and not in a freezer safe bag buried in the freezer for whenever he could find time to get to it. F that, again, qb, LB, WR, play out the contract, but RB's life is too short.

I do get what your saying, I just don't think RB's that prove themselves stars should follow it b/c they don't get 10-15 years in this league like QB's/WR's do.

**Blue Horse-shoe** · 08-07-2011, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

Has he outplayed his contract, sure. But does that mean he doesn't have to honor his word? Players bitch and complain when teams want them to re-negotiate the contracts cause they do poorly or they will be cut. So what do they do? The want to re-negotiate the deals when they out perform.

Funny how re-negotiation is fine when its what a player wants. But if you ask them to take a pay cut for their poor play, they usually refuse.

Ur comparing good vs. bad ( players) and that, by definition, is NOT the same thing it's the exact opposite. Understand ur point, but this scenario ( good player low contract ) is the exception. Besides, players who underperform get shown the door pretty quick anyways.

**Henry Burris** · 08-08-2011, 05:27 AM

Didn't he break Walter's team record of yards from scrimmage last year, or at least come close to it? He's the new Marshall Faulk, and deserves to be paid like AP or CJ..

**XaosGorilla** · 08-08-2011, 11:18 AM

Thing is, Forte has a proven, highly valuable skill set, and in a free market economy, he has the right to ask to be paid what his skills are worth. Any player can be cut by his team at any time for any reason. In essence, a franchise has no obligation to put a player on the field. As that is where players earn their money, this translates into a franchise not being obligated to pay a (any) player. Players are cut due to injury and/or under performance all the time. This of course, cuts the pay of the aforementioned player.

The question is whether a player should have the right to ask to be paid what that player is worth while the player is playing well.

Keep in mind that, should the player under perform a current contract, the franchise can cut them and "get out" of the contract.

**4th and 26** · 08-08-2011, 11:37 AM

I would sit Jay Cutler out of these games.

**soulman** · 08-08-2011, 12:14 PM

I hope he does have a very limited presence in preseason. Regardless of is contract situation he's one guy we don't need to risk getting seriously injured in meaningless games. He's already had one year out of three where he played injured and at less than 100% all year long. All you have to do is see the difference between his productivity and value to the team in 2010 in comparison to 2009 to know that.

There's plenty of competition for the other RB spots and more than enough carries to go around between those guys to leave Forte out of it except to play a little in the last one or two preseason games just to get some of his timing down. Essentially you've got Barber and Taylor duking it out for the #2 spot and Unga and Bell for the #3 spot and along with that 2 or 3 guys fighting for the FB spot too. Forget what Forte says. We should be sitting him anyway.

As I said before this is contract extension for Forte is one JA should not screw around with or screw up. Based on what DeAngelo Williams just got and what Forte' agent got Jones-Drew last year the actual numbers should be pretty easy. It really should just come down to how it's structured to be as cap friendly as possible and Cliff Stein is master at that. JA made the guy a promise that it would get done soon and to Matt Forte soon doesn't mean late fall. It means August or early September before the regular season begins. He's earned it so why screw around. Just get it done!

**Bear Goggles** · 08-08-2011, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

Apparently you are not seeing that I am complaining about him. Honor the damn contract that he signed. A player should never put himself ahead of the team.

A player sitting out hurts him, and the team. Especially with basically no training camp. He needs all the work he can get.

I'm with Forte on this one because if he goes out on Saturday and gets seriously injured management is not going to pay for damaged goods the same. Likewise no other team will pay him what he's worth right now either. He needs to make his money while he has value.

Sidenote, he had 12 carries last preseason, I think he'll be ok missing.

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