Thread: Phillips Says Bears Have No Intention of Letting Forte Reach Free Agency...

Originally Posted by Jimmors

Its all in the language. By the way he said it, he is basically saying "yeah...we still havent agreed to terms, so were gonna tag him."
And we know that Forte DOES NOT want to be tagged, i think doubly so since he got injured this year. If he gets injured while tagged next year...his stock is gonna plummet and he wont receive that big payday he wants.

I say Emery and Philips need to bite the bullet on this one. Not only would a large contract ensure Forte remains here and happy, it also pays him for all he's done for our team while being the most underpaid RB in the league for years. Just lock him up long term, even if you ended up over paying, and focus on the draft and building our OL and WR depth.

We should overpay because he was underpaid? Why? He once signed the contract - like Briggs. If he don't like it, he shouldn't have agreed to it.

I unfortunately see the Forte (and how he handles Briggs even) as a short-term make or break situation for Emery, as far as, what the current core of players will think of him in the locker room. No one on the 53-man roster is an "Emery guy" and he has a big task deciding what these two play-makers are worth to the team... which can easily be spun in the modern day athlete's mind as a slap in the face or praise to all of them.

If the team wants to win – and win with Lovie after 2012 – I agree with Jimmors on that they (Emery & Philips) need to bite the bullet on the Forte situation and pay him accordingly.... and find some way to put out the fire that is Briggs's ego.

The trouble is, and I posted an article about this a while back, teams won't pay for past performance and some of the best value for teams have been players drafted in the second and third rounds. Our two contract problem children, Forte and Briggs, are great examples.

Although it's a different situation because Briggs got his big payday a few years back. He wanted a front loaded deal and he got one so he has no business complaining now. Forte is coming off his rookie deal and he's out performed it by leaps and bounds but they're still gonna base their offer on what he'll do going forward. The past is just an "oh well".

I'm not saying that's fair but it is what it is.

Originally Posted by soulman

The trouble is, and I posted an article about this a while back, teams won't pay for past performance and some of the best value for teams have been players drafted in the second and third rounds. Our two contract problem children, Forte and Briggs, are great examples.

Although it's a different situation because Briggs got his big payday a few years back. He wanted a front loaded deal and he got one so he has no business complaining now. Forte is coming off his rookie deal and he's out performed it by leaps and bounds but they're still gonna base their offer on what he'll do going forward. The past is just an "oh well".

I'm not saying that's fair but it is what it is.

No team will say they pay for past performance, but that's essentially what they do. They give a player a huge contract because of what he HAS done HOPING he will continue that performance. Most big contracts do wind up being an overpayment for current services because player X can't maintain the performance that earned him the big contract. That being said, I think Forte is worth the risk of overpaying him because while good RBs can be found for relatively cheap, Forte is not a good running back. He is a great all around RB. As Jimmors said, he does it all: run/block/catch. He isn't the best in any one area, but he's the best in the league in combining all of those aspects. PAY THE MAN!

I can see the point both you and Jimmors are making and I guess it all comes down to how they say they see it. I guess the major difference comes from how they structure the deal. If all of the guaranteed money is paid as a signing bonus then I'd say yes, part of that is for past services rendered beyond the value of the original deal and the rest for what you hope the guy will do.

But lately teams have been putting some of that money into future roster bonuses that aren't really guaranteed unless the players performance holds up and he makes the team. No play, no pay. Agents may advertise this as guaranteed dollars but the team knows that's not 100% correct. Peppers has quite a bit the money in his contract structured that way. It's a more cap friendly way to do it since you still have the option of turning a roster bonus into a guaranteed bonus and amortizing it over the reamaining years of the deal for cap purposes.

My guess is that may be the key to removing the barriers in the Forte deal. The Bears need to up the ante as far as their guarantees are concerned. If they offer those $$$ as roster bonuses they get some cap help this year and protect themselves agaisnt a career ending injury or a major drop in production. I don't disagree that he's proven himself and has no need to do it anymore than he has. He's earned the money and I wish they'd just find a way to get it settled. Maybe some deferred bonus $$$ is the way to do it.

I think part of Jerry Angelo's thinking was to see if Forte could last a full season while playing at a very high level. When Forte went down, Angelo suddenly had no incentive to renew contract negotiations without the talks being strictly on his terms because Forte, who we all knew was going to ask for the mint, would have been devalued a bit after suffering a second knee injury in three years (remember that he had the same thing plague him in 2009 that limited his productivity).

I don't know what Emery's methods are going to be in this area, but I think he'll be more generous to Forte than Angelo would have been. Remember that Angelo's tendencies were to low ball good talent while overpaying for shitty players. He was doing the same thing with Forte during the '11 season.

Originally Posted by Jimmors

No, we should overpay if thats what it takes to lock him up long term. Yes, he signed a contract his rookie year...and he outperformed it by leaps and bounds. So I personally dont see the problem with overpaying him NOW, to make up for his services rendered. Plus, he deserves it. Forte is one of the few guys in quite some time which i can honestly say that: he is an excellent RB, he does everything and then some...he can run, he can block, he can catch. He has ZERO off-field issues, he is a pure class act like Payton. And he did all that while keeping his mouth shut and working for peanuts.

So yeah...PAY THE MAN. If i was a millionaire, id do it my damn self.

thats all fine and this. Tice wants a strong running game and he will do all he can to give Forte a new contract. Too bad he doesn't make the decisions.


I don't agree that we have to overpay for him just to keep him. If he won't agree to a fair deal for both sides --> Franchise him and/or trade him and draft a RB with this pick and sign a guy like Bush, Tolbert, Lynch or Brown.

I would have no problem with the FA, Bell and the drafted guy. RBs are like Goalies in Hockey, you can always find a guy you can trust and that will help you.