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Foster, Lynch Deals Set The Table For Forte............
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Lynch, Foster deals could set table for Forte
 The Bears put the franchise tag on Matt Forte last week. (Scott Strazzante/Tribune Photo)
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By Brad Biggs, Tribune reporter 8:58 a.m. CST, March 5, 2012
In the days since the Chicago Bears secured Matt Forte for 2012 with the franchise tag, two more marquee running backs have received long-term extensions.
The Seattle Seahawks signed Marshawn Lynch to a deal that was announced Sunday night, and on Monday morning the Houston Texans completed a five-year contract for Arian Foster.
The fine details of these contracts are not yet known. The Seahawks reportedly gave Lynch $31 million over four seasons with $17 million or $18 million guaranteed. It remains to be seen if that is fully guaranteed money against injury, skill and cap, meaning Lynch gets the guarantee no matter what. No numbers have been released yet for Foster, who rushed for 1,224 yards last season despite missing three games. Foster led the NFL in rushing in 2010 when the former undrafted free agent had 1,616 yards for Houston.
The Bears placed the franchise tag on Forte on Friday night. That means he will earn $7.7 million in 2012 unless the club can sign him to a long-term deal before the July 16 deadline.
Forte surely will point to the Lynch deal as a comparable and make the point that he is a better all-around player when factoring in his contributions in the passing game. Although Lynch has six seasons in the league vs. Forte’s four, Lynch is actually a few months younger.
The 26-year-old Forte has been a model of durability for the Bears, missing only four games in four seasons -– all at the end of the 2011 season when a sprained MCL sidelined him. He did not require surgery and is fully healed.
The Bears likely will use the franchise tag number as a landmark for negotiating. If the Bears were to place the tag on Forte for two seasons, that would cost them a little more than $16.9 million. For a little more than that in reported guarantees, the Seahawks have Lynch signed for four seasons.
The true numbers need to come in but they should at least provide a gauge of where the market is.
bmbiggs@tribune.com
Twitter @BradBiggs
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. 
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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If nothing else this pretty much reinforces Forte's worth and what the value of his contract should be. It's pretty obvious now that the going rate for top RB's is about $8 mil per year or just a little more than it costs to franchise him. Based on other deals about half the contract should guaranteed in some form of another. So it will now cost about what DWill's deal did last years to step up to the plate. $32-$40 mil give or take depending on the length of the deal and probably $18-$20 mil in guaranteed money. The numbers are there so getting it done should be all that difficult I wouldn't think.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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Yep, IF the Bears want and are going to sign him to a long term deal, it's going to cost them much more then a paltry 13-14 mil in guarantee's(ie what 2 years of franchise would be) and closer to what I, and many others have been saying since last year, closer to the DWill contract.
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Angelo really ***** us on this one.
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I propose we no longer mention the name Angelo, unless it comes with an obligatory profanity, or if we spit directly following the mention of his worthless name. Like so: Angelo *spits* was a ph@ckin moron.
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Originally Posted by
Riczaj01 
Yep, IF the Bears want and are going to sign him to a long term deal, it's going to cost them much more then a paltry 13-14 mil in guarantee's(ie what 2 years of franchise would be) and closer to what I, and many others have been saying since last year, closer to the DWill contract.
Originally Posted by
Henry Burris Angelo really ***** us on this one.
By waiting Angelo cost the Bears some $$$ in the long run. He played to cute and got another year on the cheap but now the price has gone up because everybody is getting a DWill deal. Last fall I couldn't have justified it but now it's take out the checkbook time. Keeping him franchised is a bad more for a number of reason not the least of which is continuing to just piss him off.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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High Fives / Like - 1 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
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I was justifing it last year b/c contracts for top nfl players rarely go down or stay flat. Once a mid carder like Dwill got that contract, no matter how unjustified, every other rb and agent was going to say hey i'm tons better then him; and look at the elite getting 10x's that. I'm easily between dwill and AP I need something in that range. 13-14 mil was never going to cut it. Great JA got an extra 500K(when we could have easily gotten more in the cap) now our cap is further fucked in the future b/c he didn't give an extra 4-6 mil.
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