Thread: Dan Pompei; Bears Appear Not To Value Forte as High as Others..............

Originally Posted by Dagan81

I'm back. Did you miss me?

Miss you? Who the hell are you??

Originally Posted by soulman

Miss you? Who the hell are you??

Originally Posted by BigBadPapaBear

That's a bit unfair Ricster. The Bears had Thomas Jones before Forte and he was a darn good one. They simply made a bad personnel move in the RB dept going with Benson. The last time the Bears used a 2nd rd pick on a runner was back in 2001 on Anthony Thomas. Bush can start for many teams. He lost his starting job because McFadden is a beast when healthy. That's just not even a fair comparison.

You're right. Bush is good enough to be the starting running back for the Bears in my opinion. He only played a few games last year backing up McFadden and still rushed for over 900 yards. I don't know what kind of an all-purpose back Bush is, like, if he can catch well or block, but I'm willing to bet that he's more than adequate enough to be serviceable in Tice's offense. I'm not too concerned. We can still compete for a Super Bowl without Forte. He's expendable at this juncture, but he doesn't realize that.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

Soul you misread, the article states ...it is believed they offered him 6 and they undervalued him... and then states they believe ...IF they had offered him 7.5 he would be signed and under contract right now. This INFERS That they never offered him 17-18 you think they have. Maybe I missed the part you are looking at, so let you show you what I am:

-- Bears missed window of opportunity: The time to sign Forte was last offseason, but the Bears probably undervalued him then. It is believed they offered him a little more than $6 million per year.

Since that time, Forte's price has gone up in part because he had a career year and because the deals of Williams, Foster and McCoy, among others, have driven up the market.

If the Bears had offered $7.5 per year last summer, it's possible Forte would be under contract now.


Nothing I shows says they have upped the offer, but it does state they beleive Forte is looking for 8.5. Two people asked to value Forte put him at 8 to 8.5 per year. NOTHING states the Bears offered him either. AND we know last summer it never got anywhere near that b/c he was only offered 13-15 mil guaranteed. (That was the rumor, yes)

I've been stating for months that I believed the Bears purposely low balled him so they could go ahead and get a sweetheart deal, or FT him for 1 to 2 years depending on performance and go from there and therefore not have long term money wrapped up into him. Sad/Funny, 2 years of 7-9 mil in FT is about 8mil. And if the guarantees only last 3 years you get him complete through his prime for that money w/out the animosity built up; I would think it would have been worth that extra year. (This is exactly what I'm saying Ric. This is why not raising the offer to what they would spend to tag him anyway, if that's their plan, makes no sense. The offer must have come up if they plan to do that)

No, I know nothing says they have but I'm saying they have and I've been saying that all along. It totally defies all known logic that they would just come back with the same offer that had already been turned down. If that's what Phillips meant by "a strong offer" then I think you would have heard a lot more "being disrespected" talk from the Forte camp.

There would be no logical reason to re-present that "lowball offer" from last fall dressed up as something new and better. Do we at least agree on that? If not you and I aren't getting any closer to a compromise either. You do realize that don't you.

I've said that if they would offer those two years of tag costs ($17.02 mil) as a guarantee years one and two and add two more years to equal $30-$32 mil total then they've made him a fair offer. I believe his agent wants more than a fair offer. I believe he wants a deal that tops DWill's so that he has the bragging rights over others as far as these "red plus" deals go. He wants A) big money upfront, B) a $20 mil plus guarantee, and C) a total package that tops $43 mil.

I think this is where the problem comes from. Forte and Bakari believe he should be the guy at the top of that "red plus" tier and neither the Bears or his production justify it.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

Pappa, AP and CJ both make about 14 mil a year. That means the next year(averaging 7-8 mil) is right where Forte falls. It's not crazy money 10-15 mil is crazy money.

I don't disagree but $8.5 mil 2012-2013 and $7.5-$8.0 mil 4 year average is the end of the line where I'm concerned and that is a very good deal. If he turns it down holding out for an $8.5 mil plus 5 year average then he's a fool.

Forte probably wants $10 million so he can be paid upward of what Calvin Johnson is getting as a WR ::. Forte thinks too highly of himself and his place on this team. While I believe he has the right and should take the opportunity to earn as much money as he can, at the end of the day, he really doesn't mean shit to us. We have two very capable running backs who can fill in for him should he decide to sit out.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

Pappa, AP and CJ both make about 14 mil a year. That means the next year(averaging 7-8 mil) is right where Forte falls. It's not crazy money 10-15 mil is crazy money.

That's incorrect Ric. You're reading what the paper says and not looking at the facts. AP has a $96mil/7 year deal that averages $13.7 mil per year over the life of the contract but a lot of that money is on the back end an who knows if he'll ever see it. Let's take a look at the here and now.

Last year AP made $12.705 mil in salary and bonus but this year he's due just $8 mil. So for 2011 and 2012 combined he's averaging about $10 mil per year. Then he jumps to $11.25 mil in 2013 and $11.75 mil in 2014. So $43.7 mil over 4 years or an average of $10.926 per year. Far short of $14 mil per year but still in your crazy money range. After 2014 he gets a $4 mil annual salary escalator each year but do you really think he'll ever see that money? Basically this is a four year $43.7 mil deal with $36 mil guaranteed.


Adrian Peterson

Running Back

Players: Drafted:Round 1 (#7 overall), 2007
College: Oklahoma

Current Salary Information

Contract: 7 yr(s) / $96,000,000 Signing Bonus - Average Salary $13,714,286 End Year: 2017 Free Agent: 2018 / Unrestricted

Base Salary S. Bonus Misc. Bonus Cap Hit 2011 10,720,000 - 1,985,000 12,705,000 2012 8,000,000 - - 8,000,000 2013 11,250,000 - - 11,250,000 2014 11,750,000 - - 11,750,000 2015 - - - - 2016 - - - - 2017 - - - - 2018 UFA $36 million guaranteed Escalators: $4 million

Here's CJ's deal. He got $10 mil upfront and basically all but $1 mil of his 2011-2013 salaries guaranteed. So he gets $30 mil over his first 3 years or an average of $10 mil per year. He's not getting anywhere near $14 mil per year either because the whole thing only average $9.2 mil per year of he gets it all and $25 mil of it is paid in years 2014-2016. Take a peak at his unamortized SB at the beginning of 2014. It's just $4mil vs his $8mil salary. If CJ doesn't have his act together and produce or the Titans can draft a rookie who can and pay him $2 mil per year it's bye bye CJ and they save $4 mil in cap and $8mil in cash which may cover that rookies entire 4 year contract. Chris Johnson Running Back Players: Drafted:Round 1 (#24 overall), 2008 College: East Carolina Current Salary Information Contract: 6 yr(s) / $55,260,000 Signing Bonus $10,000,000 Average Salary $9,210,000 End Year: 2016 Free Agent: 2017 / Unrestricted Base Salary S. Bonus Misc. Bonus Cap Hit 2011 3,000,000 2,000,000 - 5,000,000 2012 8,000,000 2,000,000 - 10,000,000 2013 10,000,000 2,000,000 - 12,000,000 2014 8,000,000 2,000,000 - 10,000,000 2015 8,000,000 2,000,000 - 10,000,000 2016 7,000,000 - 2,000,000 9,000,000 2017 UFA $30 million guaranteed Signing Bonus: $10 million $250,000 de-escalator per year he misses workouts. I guess what I'm trying to point out is these are really just three or four year deals and not 5 and 6 or 7 year deals. Once those guarantees have been met if the deal gets too pricey then that guy either renegotiates or he's gone and if he gets injured or his production slips once the guarantee is paid out he's gone anyway. These are the "hard dollar" numbers not the "soft dollar" numbers the agents like to brag on.