Thread: Another domino has fallen in our quest to sign Forte...

Looks like the Bears might need to think about upping their offer a bit.

Originally Posted by Papa Bear

Looks like the Bears might need to think about upping their offer a bit.

Originally Posted by bearsinhouston

Based on that money and the belief that the Bears are not offering that much in guarantees, I bet no contract gets done and we sit it out until he signs his tender. Hope I'm wrong, but the Bears don't seem willing to put up these numbers.

Not necessarily PB and they may already have put up as good or better houston. Look at the terms of McCoy's contract below;


LeSean McCoy

Running Back

Players: Drafted:Round 2 (#53 overall), 2009
College: Pittsburgh

Current Salary Information

Contract: 6 yr(s) / $45,615,000 Signing Bonus - Average Salary $7,602,500 End Year: 2017 Free Agent: 2018 / Unrestricted

Base Salary S. Bonus Misc. Bonus Cap Hit 2012 615,000 342,500 - 957,500 2013 3,250,000 - - 3,250,000 2014 8,000,000 - - 8,000,000 2015 10,250,000 - - 10,250,000 2016 7,150,000 - - 7,150,000 2017 7,850,000 - - 7,850,000 2018 UFA $20.765 million guaranteed

Except for a miniscule SB of $342.5k tacked onto this years salary it's all in salary and 55% of it is in the last three years. He gets his $20.765 mil spread out over 4 years from 2012-2015 and this year he gets just $950k and change. Next year it's $3.25 mil so for this season and next Philly is out of pocket just $4.2 mil. I'd venture to guess the SB Forte gets the minute after he signs his deal is at least twice that now and that the guarantees in his offer payout over the first two years not four.

This is a great deal for Philly because it get them McCoy on the cheap for the next two years before he gets his first big pat day of $8 mil in 2014. Hell Forte's tag pays him just a little less than that THIS year. Through three years McCoy collects all of $12.2 mil or an average of just over $4 mil per year and Forte stands to make about twice that much per year if what he's been offered is in the range of what Lynch got. Even the $6 mil per year deal that MJD wants extended gets him 50% more than this.

The top money year is in 2015 at $10.25 mil and since I'm betting the guarantees are mainly, if not all, guarantees against injury not a loss of productivity. I'm also willing to bet he sees little to none of that money. This is basically a 3 year $12.2 mil deal that may get him his other $10 mil in guaranteed or it may not and to think that he'll ever see $45.6 mil total is like believing in Santa Claus.

This is a great example of how headlines are made with air. When is a guarantee not a guarantee. In this case he's spending the next 4 years collecting that money with 50% of it coming in year four. A deal that paid just $17-$18 over the next two would blow this away. Maybe his agent is bragging but this isn't any hot deal for McCoy when he averages about $2 mil per year over the next two years.

Somebody want to call Matt Forte and ask him if he'd like to play for an average of $2 mil per year over the next 2 years compared to the $7.74 he'll get for just one if he'll sign his tag tender.

Originally Posted by soulman

Not necessarily PB and they may already have put up as good or better houston. Look at the terms of McCoy's contract below;


LeSean McCoy

Running Back

Players: Drafted:Round 2 (#53 overall), 2009
College: Pittsburgh

Current Salary Information

Contract: 6 yr(s) / $45,615,000 Signing Bonus - Average Salary $7,602,500 End Year: 2017 Free Agent: 2018 / Unrestricted

Base Salary S. Bonus Misc. Bonus Cap Hit 2012 615,000 342,500 - 957,500 2013 3,250,000 - - 3,250,000 2014 8,000,000 - - 8,000,000 2015 10,250,000 - - 10,250,000 2016 7,150,000 - - 7,150,000 2017 7,850,000 - - 7,850,000 2018 UFA $20.765 million guaranteed

Except for a miniscule SB of $342.5k tacked onto this years salary it's all in salary and 55% of it is in the last three years. He gets his $20.765 mil spread out over 4 years from 2012-2015 and this year he gets just $950k and change. Next year it's $3.25 mil so for this season and next Philly is out of pocket just $4.2 mil. I'd venture to guess the SB Forte gets the minute after he signs his deal is at least twice that now and that the guarantees in his offer payout over the first two years not four.

This is a great deal for Philly because it get them McCoy on the cheap for the next two years before he gets his first big pat day of $8 mil in 2014. Hell Forte's tag pays him just a little less than that THIS year. Through three years McCoy collects all of $12.2 mil or an average of just over $4 mil per year and Forte stands to make about twice that much per year if what he's been offered is in the range of what Lynch got. Even the $6 mil per year deal that MJD wants extended gets him 50% more than this.

The top money year is in 2015 at $10.25 mil and since I'm betting the guarantees are mainly, if not all, guarantees against injury not a loss of productivity. I'm also willing to bet he sees little to none of that money. This is basically a 3 year $12.2 mil deal that may get him his other $10 mil in guaranteed or it may not and to think that he'll ever see $45.6 mil total is like believing in Santa Claus.

This is a great example of how headlines are made with air. When is a guarantee not a guarantee. In this case he's spending the next 4 years collecting that money with 50% of it coming in year four. A deal that paid just $17-$18 over the next two would blow this away. Maybe his agent is bragging but this isn't any hot deal for McCoy when he averages about $2 mil per year over the next two years.

Somebody want to call Matt Forte and ask him if he'd like to play for an average of $2 mil per year over the next 2 years compared to the $7.74 he'll get for just one if he'll sign his tag tender.

Thanks for the clarification!

Soul your calculations are way off, 37,475,500 you're shorting McCoy right around 8 mil

and honestly we don't know how it's going to be structured, I couldn't find anything on it but some that did said it would be around 9mil a year and it was comparable to Foster and Williams deals. He also was not a FA or RFA but still had a year left, like Foster. So this idea that teams should expect/get a huge discount(cough cough Teddy/JA) is still a load of BS.

btw it's great to hear they are talking w/this deal and probably Rice's to come shortly I really hope they get it done.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

Soul your calculations are way off, 37,475,500 you're shorting McCoy right around 8 mil

and honestly we don't know how it's going to be structured, I couldn't find anything on it but some that did said it would be around 9mil a year and it was comparable to Foster and Williams deals. He also was not a FA or RFA but still had a year left, like Foster. So this idea that teams should expect/get a huge discount(cough cough Teddy/JA) is still a load of BS.

Not mine Ric. That's copied and pasted right from the Spotrac site so whatever isn't right is on them. Maybe that 2012 SB should be $8.3425 but it's not shown that way nor is there any amortization of a SB over the life of the deal. Maybe there are some roster bonuses not guaranteed in 2016-2017. Another $4 mil each there would make sense because it keeps boosting his annual pay. All I can do is put up what they publish and they're usually pretty dependable.

So let's say for the sake of argument he gets another $8 mil in the first 4 years. Maybe he gets $4 mil each in roster bonuses in 2013-2014. Then the total becomes $30.4575 mil/4yrs which then jives with that $7.6 mil average. I've said all along that a 4 year $30 mil deal is about where the Bears need to be and I believe they're in that neighborhood with their last offer. The only difference then becomes just how much of that are the Bears guaranteeing and how versus how McCoy's is guaranteed.

Most of these deals are worded so that guarantee is against injury and not a failure to produce so if a guys production drops the team has an out. The trend has been away from paying huge SB's upfront which can put you in cap hell when you cut guys and end up with dead cap space. If it's a roster bonus it may be reported as guaranteed but it's only guaranteed in as much as you're on the active roster and those are often paid out throughout the season too. Not all are guaranteed to be paid by a certain date any longer.

The bottom line is a $30 mil deal over 4 years give or take with 60% guaranteed over the first two years is a competitive offer if that's what they're put on the table and if not then they should pony up. This crap of $45 mil deals is foolish to believe in. There is little if any likelihood that McCoy will ever see that $15 mil at the end of that deal anyway. So consider it a solid $30 mil deal if that $8 mil is in years 2013-2015 somewhere and a very, very iffy $45 mil deal. You can write deals like this all day long but anything beyond what's guaranteed becomes subject to speculation down the road anyway.