Thread: Is Matt Forte Getting Bad Advice?.....................

.. http://www.csnchicago.com/06/13/12/C...8&feedID=10330..This is the interview referenced in the initial post. At around 2:45 Haugh "stakes his claim" by at around 4:40 he states "I dont know what the bears have offered. They've kept a tight lid on this." The contract value is 100% hypothetical. He is only using this number to point out this opinion that he thinks that Forte has taken contract talks personally, and to reenforce his belief that the Bears have been fair, and that it's Forte that is being unreasonable. I think we have hashed out all the opinions already.

Originally Posted by XaosGorilla

.. http://www.csnchicago.com/06/13/12/C...8&feedID=10330..This is the interview referenced in the initial post. At around 2:45 Haugh "stakes his claim" by at around 4:40 he states "I dont know what the bears have offered. They've kept a tight lid on this." The contract value is 100% hypothetical. He is only using this number to point out this opinion that he thinks that Forte has taken contract talks personally, and to reenforce his belief that the Bears have been fair, and that it's Forte that is being unreasonable. I think we have hashed out all the opinions already.

Thanks Xaos. I didn't have that link. I didn't think he actually knew that for a fact. Besides Haugh has been very pro-Bears about this all along. But I will stick with my point that this is the first time the Bears have ever had an extended contract dispute with a vet other than the one with Briggs and he eventually learned that he wasn't worth quite what he thought he was.

Matt's kind of flip flopped between taking this personal and shrugging it off like it was just business all along but for the most part I think his emotions are controlling his common sense which says he is taking it personal. Very personal.

Originally Posted by BigBadPapaBear

Yes he's getting very bad advice. Forte has already tipped his hand. He said he will be there when the season starts so what do you accomplish by holding out? Nothing. Why would the Bears increase the offer at this point? What the Bears should do is pull their contract offer and table the talks until next year.

If I were them, I would also go public with what Forte has been offered. Let Forte's feet do the talking this season. He has a bad season, then the Bears look like geniuses for not moving off their offer. Forte then looks foolish for not taking the offer. If Forte goes bananas and puts up some crazy numbers this year, then the Bears are in an even better position negotiating with a 27yr old RB next year.

Forte has effectively lost this battle. Missing training camp and not preparing with the Bears for this season, is not going to endear himself to the fans.

That's the other part of the battle he's now beginning to lose. Someone should tap him on the shoulder and tell him just how quickly Bears fans turned on Lance Briggs when he had his contract dispute. Things went from "pay the man" to trade his ass pretty quickly once the fans knew he was looking for a $60 mil deal.

Of course all was forgiven when the prodigal son returned but it took all of a day for fans to get their backs up again real quick when he complained again last fall. Maybe 20 or 30 years ago the Bears could have been accused of being cheapskates when it came to paying their stars but that hasn't been the case on over a decade. The fairness of their offer can only be judged by what they can afford to pay not by what others are getting. Those are comparisons and they don't establish his "market value".

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Originally Posted by Riczaj01

And we'll continue to disagree, Roddy White held out and got a big contract, he is/was not their only weapon. And if I really wanted to I'm sure I could come up w/more that have done it where they are not the only weapons. (He was in the last year of the deal he got in 2005 when he got an extension on 2009 6yrs/$48 mil/$8 mil avg. but only $18.6 guaranteed. He's also a WR which is a higher paid postition but that's far from being at the top of the heap)

We aren't going into hypotheticals here, he's not sitting out the whole season and you and I, he and the Bears know it. But as TC gets closer the pressure will mount to make sure he is there; and nothing is saying he will be. And for all the "praise" that Bush and Bell have gotten, Cutler stated the teams goal is to get the ball into their playmakers hands, neither of them were mentioned, but Forte was. (No, that's wrong. Both Cutler and the coaching staff have been very complimentary of Bush and commented that he as a better receiver than they had originally thought)

And if they do move on they will suffer. Everyone overvalued Barber and Roy Williams last year too; didn't work out so well, cost us the season when the games were put into their hands....FACT. Bush/Bell do not equate to playmakers to get the ball too. They don't have the explosion, hands, or playmaking ability that Forte has. You can theorize that they are prepared to move w/out him, but I don't think they are b/c otherwise he would not be a primary weapon they are counting on. (No one that I know of around here overvalued RWill. We were all opposed to him. MB III came in and did exactly what was expected of him. Bush is younger, bigger and more talented and even more is expected of him. Kahil Bell performed extremely well in his four starts. Neither one is the equivalent of Forte. I already said that. But together they make an effective RB duo. And when are you gonna admit that Forte is not the primary weapon they are counting on any longer? That's exactly what this article is talking about. Matt Forte is no longer the first or only weapon the Bears have. He'll have to share that role with at least six other guys; Marshall, Bennett, Jeffery, Hester, Davis, and Bush. His role is diminishing and if they have to the Bears will learn to live without him and adapt. A year ago no, but now, absolutely.

And that Rookie back is cheaper but not guaranteed to be able to produce, just ask all the many busts the Bears have brought in between Neal and TJ. Hey while we're at it, let's just get rid of Marshal b/c we can get a cheaper guy in the draft...same w/Urlacher Briggs, Peppers, and just about every other player on the team. weak argument.

It's not a weak argument when you consider that all of those players are more important to the success of team and also more irreplaceable than Forte. We have no vet backups for any of those guys who play at their level. There's also the fact that two of those guys are team captains and leaders of the defense and that the careers of LB's, DE's, and WR's is on average much longer than that of RB's.

The potential productive length of Matt Forte's career as well as that of any other RB has been discussed here and in virtually every article written about this at length. The Bears have personally expressed their misgivings about it as one of the reasons why they are in a disagreement with Forte's demands. And every other contract signed in the last year by every other RB isn't guaranteed past the third year of the deal. That should also tell how the rest of the league feels about the longevity of these other backs.

These are facts Ric and I can't see how they could be debated. Whether or not Bush and Bell can be as productive or whether or not we can draft a rookie to take Forte's place are opinions and we can debate that but not the rest of it. Everything that I've highlighted is a fact.

The bottom line as David Haugh and that article point out is that Matt Forte is not as key an element in the Bears offensive plans now as he was a year or two ago. If he's held out then he probably did have some leverage yet knowing the Bears they wouldn't have given in but they may have restructed his contract with an extension. But now he has no leverage. Just about everyone but you agrees with that.

He is an important part of the Bears offense but he is no longer THE most important part. Other weapons have been purchased and those weapons will supplement what he does and if he's not there to do them then Bush and Bell will be. The Bears covered their bases early on this. When Forte refused the last offer that was made they signed Bush and made Bell a tender offer. Before the draft even took place those two were committed or Emery probably would have drafted a RB.

It's OK if you don't think the Bears offense will do as well or can win without Matt Forte. That's not important. What's important is that the Bears believe they can win without him and I can guarantee you they're prepared to do it if he decides to hold out. I'm not sure how much more wiggle room they may have for a final last ditch effort but my guess is there isn't much more to give.

It's all up to Matt Forte as far as what he wants to do. He says he wants a long term deal. The Bears have offered him one they feel is fair. He doesn't feel it's fair yet he refuses to sign his tender. Ric, he only has two choices if he plans on getting paid and one of them in not holding out. Therefore he has no leverage as far as a holdout is concerned. None.