WT: Bears will put Franchise tag on Forte

[transplant]

It's a shame this forum doesn't get more action, but I digress.

Glad to see that most of the posters here don't view this as a good guy-bad guy thing.

With NFL contracts, it's all about the guaranteed money. The Bears reportedly offered Forte $13-14mil guaranteed. Forte and his agent want more like what Chris Johnson and D'Angelo Williams got ($20-30mil guaranteed).

From the Bears' perspective, I can easily understand that they don't want to be held to a Johnson-Williams standard since they view these as foolish mistakes (early indications are that they're right). Also, both Johnson and Williams have been selected for Pro Bowls, something Forte has yet to achieve.

If Forte keeps up his current pace, I'm confident that the Bears will up their offer this offseason, though it may not get to the Johnson-Williams stratosphere. The Eagles are in the same boat with LeSean McCoy. If Forte (and his agent) and the Bears can't reach an agreement, there's always the franchise tag. While Forte doesn't want to be tagged, $7-8mil for one season ain't a bad consolation prize.