Thread: Matt Forte: Even better than his stats look

Originally Posted by gammabears

I hope it doesn't come down to a franchise tag, don't know how he'll respond to that really..

How would you respond to $8.5 to $9 mil for one year?

Oh I'd be happy, but I don't know how Matt will react.

Like this is how you treat me? Bust my ass behind a broken offensive line, most yards from scrimmage in the NFL. Don't even sign me to a long term deal? gtfo

Lol.

Matt Forte is the best offensive weapon the Bears have had since the great Walter Payton. And in one respect, he might be better from the perspective that he is a better receiver than "Sweetness." He may not be the best pure runner in the league, but he is unequivocally the best all-purpose RB in the NFL right now. I would take him over Adrian Peterson, Maurice Jones-Drew, Darren McFadden, Chris Johnson, and even my fellow alumni from the University of Tennessee (Arian Foster) any day of the week. He is so valuable to this team. He may well wind up as the league's MVP at season's end, especially if the Bears are able to sneak their way into the playoffs. With this revamped offensive line showing signs of blocking far better than it did with OMG in it, not to mention with the young but highly talented Gabe Carimi still on the shelf, I think this offense only has room to improve. Hell, it is already light years ahead of where it was at this time last year.

That being said, Jerry Angelo is going to learn the hard way about not treating your star athletes with respect. He basically drove Olin Kreutz out of the league by not re-signing him and then Kreutz left for New Orleans and just did not like playing anymore once he was away from the Bears. That did not cost him much, but this latest skirmish with Forte is going to cost him in the purse. He could have had Forte for relatively cheap compared to what he is going to command now. I would not be surprised to see Forte demanding close to Adrian Peterson/Chris Johnson-type money, because he is simply that good.

His TD production is down from where it was in his two best years but that shouldn't be that big a deal. His runs and yac on receptions set up scores. Whether or not he carries it across the goaline isn't all that important and I wouldn't let them pull that on me in negotiations.

What has limited his scoring is that up til now he's not been a very good short yardage back so Taylor got a lot of goaline carries last year and Barber will get them this year. They wouldn't get that 6 if Forte hadn't set up a 1st and goal for them with a long run or pass. That brings us to his second shortcoming. He doesn't have breakaway speed and he gets pulled down and/or driven out of bounds by the pursuit short of the goaline. Again what's the big deal? Walter Payton didn't have breakaway speed either but it didn't hurt his running much.

Any statistical excuses JA comes up with are just that........excuses. Matt Forte is proving weekly that he is one of the most productive backs in the NFL and should be paid like one. He warned them that it was gonna get more expensive and he's keeping his word.

Bears are cheap and pay this way. Why pay him more this year when you have him under contract for 1 million. They see this team as just business. Forte will get his extension after the season when he isn't under contract with this steal of a contract.
I hope Forte wants to stay and thinks that this in nothing personell

I think that part of the problem is that the man who writes the checks has not realized that with the changes to the NFL pay scale, the value of veteran players has gone up since just a year ago. He is going to learn, and Forte is doing the teaching.