Thread: Forte: 'I'm not Chris Johnson'

Originally Posted by little bear

NFL.com news: Forte won't abandon Bears teammates in quest for new contract



Pay da man!

They tried to. He wanted more than what he was offered for the guaranteed amount, which is about how much he would get with the franchise tags. If he had of taken that deal, he would have gotten more over the next two years than he will get. The guaranteed bonus and the annual salary.

Stop saying pay the man, because they tried to. Start saying pay him what he wants.

I wish they would get this thing done. So we can stop hearing about it.

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

They tried to. He wanted more than what he was offered for the guaranteed amount, which is about how much he would get with the franchise tags. If he had of taken that deal, he would have gotten more over the next two years than he will get. The guaranteed bonus and the annual salary.

Stop saying pay the man, because they tried to. Start saying pay him what he wants.

I think that's what "pay da man" means Benji. If the going rate for shoveling snow is $12 per hour and you spend 2 hours shoveling me out and I offer you $10 you're not gonna accept that are you? Matt Forte believes the going rate for RB's of his stature is more than a guarantee of $13-$15 mil so he's not willing to accept it. In either instance you can't say they tried to pay him if what they offer to pay is less than the job is worth. What it's worth is what they're negotiating.

I think it's pretty sad when one of your star players tells the world that he thinks this deal would have gotten done by now if he played for any team other than the Bears. I believed we'd gotten away from a reputation for being cheap with the signings of other star players like Peppers and Cutler but now we seem to be back in that corner of the room again. The Bears approach to player compensation makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Last year we gave a $12 mil deal to a 30 years old RB who'd never been a frontline starter for most of his career and guaranteed $7 mil of that yet we can't cough up a guarantee of more than twice that for a 26 year old RB in his prime? The worst Forte has ever done is still 10x more productive than what we got from Chester Taylor!

Well at least one question is answered for you Benji. He has no intention on holding out. His loyalty to his teamates trumps any loyalty the Bears are showing him right now. I disagree with those who say he should take the $14 mil and be happy when that's 50% less i n guaranteed dollars than a very comparable back (DWill) signed for.

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

Bears were offering him guaranteed money close to or equal to what the two franchise tags are. They knew that they held all the cards and would not have had to pay him more than that if they went the tag price. That is what the going rate for him is right now, at least for guarantees. He will not reach free agency, and I can not see him holding out.

Before this year, I did not see a special back in Forte, I saw a hard runner who fought for yards but that was about it. This year has proven me wrong and I am more than happy to call him elite,and if he was on any other team he would likely be getting a sizable contract with about $20m in guaranteed money instead of about the 14-16 or so Bears offered him.

That is smart business by the Bears, even though it shows how tight fisted they are when it comes to money. Do you want to make and keep your stars happy? Hell yes, but sometimes you have to bend over and take it if you are a player. Unless he plans on sitting out until he gets a new deal after being tagged, he will not make more than that in guaranteed money, at least not from the Bears. He may not like it, but he should have taken it.

Read what I posted about that in the other Forte thread Benji. The Bears offer is actually shy of what the estimated costs of franchising him for two seasons would cost by about $4 mil. I think if they upped those guarantees from the $13-$14 mil range to the $17-$18 mil range (closer to what the ERFT will cost for 2012-2013) and the entire deal worth around $35 mil over 5 years they'd have a deal.

Therefore I don't agree that he should have taken the Bears first offer. It was undermarket and an intial lowball offer and Angelo knows that. He's just letting this play out to see if he can get him for that. I applaud Forte's agent for being able to see through it. Jerry Angelo is being foolish is he thinks he'll get him to commit for what he offered. Forte will allow himnself to be franchised before he'll take the deal that's on the table.

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

Unless Forte accepts their offer, he will get franchised.

Oh there's no doubt that they'd franchise him and he knows that too despite spouting off about it being a cheap way out. Something was written about the Bears cobbling together a new offer to put on the table. We don't know if that's just a supposition or if there's something behind it but I don't doubt that it will happen and better sooner than later.

No matter how well Forte is performing this money squabble is a distraction that's running through the entire team. Several players have spoken out in support of him. The Bears refusal to deal has ever player on the team questioning the front offices thinking and what it may mean in their own situation. Whether they're up for an extension now or not eventually they will be. If the message they're getting is that it doesn't matter what you've done in the past all we're gonna consider is what you'll do in the future that's not exactly motivating someone to put out 120% thinking they'll be rewarded for it.

Jerry Angelo is an arrogant SOB and he's played this one just about as badly as anyone possibly could. He's on the hot seat now. Fans are calling him out and the Bears players are expressing doubts about him and a lack of trust. He may have the leverage over Forte but the way he's choosing to use it may cost him more in the long run than the dollars he's trying to save. When a team plays it too cheap with it's star players eventually they end up looking and playing like the Bengals which is why Mike Brown is considered one of the worst owners in the league.

*bump*

not sure if Forte will say that again...