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Not just offseason workouts.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on SportsCenter Wednesday that franchise player Matt Forte will not participate in any team functions until a long-term contract is finalized.

"He's not signing anything until he has a long-term deal," emphasized Schefter. "And until he has that ... you will not see Matt Forte in Chicago." The frustrated Forte camp had remained relatively quiet on the issue until the Bears went out and signed Michael Bush. Now Forte is entrenched for at least the next few months while the Bears seem content to let him twist in the wind on the one-year franchise tender.

Keep up the good fight Matt. We'll just be busy over here winning games with Jay Cutler, Michael Bush and Brandon Marshall.

Bad decision by Forte...No player comes out and plays well after missing training camp. And that in turn will just **** up his chances at getting a good long term deal.

so he won't sign the franchise tender. He'd rather sit and not get paid 7 mil, or play and get paid 7 mil.
Thats not bloody likely to happen and the Bears know it. Whether or not they decide to cave in because they don't want distraction of a holdout is another story, but I think the Michael Bush signing and the franchise tender says it all as far as what they are willing to do with his paycheck.

But if the Bears ever thought for a second he would sit out in the regular season, thats the second they shoud make plans to trade him. But, like Dwight Howard, he would have to agree to sign a prorated franchise offer with the new team. Since that wouldn't happen either, the Bears have to just move on with Bush and deal with the circus and hope he comes in. I believe they have made their decision already to do just that

I think Forte's agent needs quit demanding $20M guaranteed and this problem will go away. I'm assuming that's what he's asking since it's around what Williams got.

anyone of you guys think if he didnt complain publicly about his contract, the bears would have rewarded him by now? b/c i do.

arian foster and marshawn lynch kept their mouth shut and played lights out. and they were rewarded handsomely.

I didn't know Foster was already extended.

heir_jordan22 wrote:I didn't know Foster was already extended.

he signed five year, potentially 43 million contract. 20 million guaranteed.

and the Seahawks re-signed RB Marshawn Lynch to a four-year, $32 million contract with $18 million guaranteed.

This looks like around the contract Forte will probably end up with.

Pax

Well Forte can shove it then. We don't need him if he doesn't want to play.

Pay the man nobody has carried their team like matt forte since hes been in the league and hes a top 5 RB in the NFL. He deserves foster money

i ve said this before and i will say it again. deangelo williams contract really messed up this whole situation. matt forte is a very nice back, but he isnt deangelo williams money nice. even deangelo wiliams doesnt deserve that money.

jl342323 wrote:i ve said this before and i will say it again. deangelo williams contract really messed up this whole situation. matt forte is a very nice back, but he isnt deangelo williams money nice. even deangelo wiliams doesnt deserve that money.

Forte is better than williams

You can't pay big money to a running back. They aren't as important in the league as they used to be. It is a passing leauge now and the Bears now have Marshall. Most teams also have a 2 back system. Allocating a lot of money to a running back is just playing with fire. Running backs have such a short life span. The Bears should just franchise tag him twice and let him walk.

Look at the top running backs in the league and see where their teams rank.

LOL at you idiots blaming Forte. He is doing what he is supposed to do. Look out for his best interest. I can see we have some armchair GM's here, but this is a black eye for the Bears, just like the Brees situation is a black eye on the Saints. Forte has done everything asked of him and has been a top 4 Back in the league for 2 years now. For the person who said just shut up and play. Oh what exactly do you think he did last season? He did just that and he got a season ending injury without a new contract. He will hold out and if you think the Bears will be better without him you guys are delusional. You will see how much we miss him when the season starts. I love the fact that some "fan" said this isn't a run first league anymore. I can tell you are not a Bears fan because the Bears are and WILL ALWAYS BE A RUN FIRST TEAM.

Trade him. The Browns are dangling their first round pick. Give them Forte and like a 5th rounder and suddenly we have Blackmon and Marshall in one offseason. The Giants had the 30th ranked rushing offense last season and won the Super Bowl. It's a passing league now. No need to pay Forte top running back dollar.

SportsWorld wrote:Trade him. The Browns are dangling their first round pick. Give them Forte and like a 5th rounder and suddenly we have Blackmon and Marshall in one offseason. The Giants had the 30th ranked rushing offense last season and won the Super Bowl. It's a passing league now. No need to pay Forte top running back dollar.

Actually there is. We are a better team with Matt Forte than without him. That would be one reason. Oh and we aren't the Giants. The Bears will always be a run first team under Lovie Smith.

LobosJordan wrote:

SportsWorld wrote:Trade him. The Browns are dangling their first round pick. Give them Forte and like a 5th rounder and suddenly we have Blackmon and Marshall in one offseason. The Giants had the 30th ranked rushing offense last season and won the Super Bowl. It's a passing league now. No need to pay Forte top running back dollar.

Actually there is. We are a better team with Matt Forte than without him. That would be one reason. Oh and we aren't the Giants. The Bears will always be a run first team under Lovie Smith.

Actually there isn't. We've got the tag and all the leverage. That's the way the system works.

And we can do the same thing next year, too.

Forte would be a complete moron to sit out this year and pass up the franchise tag money. Of course we're a better team w/Forte but when the two sides can't come to terms we've got the ace in the hole - THE FRIGGIN' TAG. Again, we've got all the leverage here. Matt's leverage is to sit at home and not get paid $8 million in 2012. Awesome.

No reason to make a DeAngelo Williams/Chris Johnson mistake here. If Forte's asking price doesn't meet the budget, the rules state we've got 2 years we can use the tag here. Let's use it.

SportsWorld wrote:Trade him. The Browns are dangling their first round pick. Give them Forte and like a 5th rounder and suddenly we have Blackmon and Marshall in one offseason. The Giants had the 30th ranked rushing offense last season and won the Super Bowl. It's a passing league now. No need to pay Forte top running back dollar.

a 27 year old Forte and a 5th can't get you a #4 overall. Minimum package of Forte and the 19th might get talks rolling. But If I'm the Bears I don't need 2 or 3 for one kind of deals to move up. The Bears have holes to fill.

Cliff Levingston wrote:Not just offseason workouts.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on SportsCenter Wednesday that franchise player Matt Forte will not participate in any team functions until a long-term contract is finalized.

"He's not signing anything until he has a long-term deal," emphasized Schefter. "And until he has that ... you will not see Matt Forte in Chicago." The frustrated Forte camp had remained relatively quiet on the issue until the Bears went out and signed Michael Bush. Now Forte is entrenched for at least the next few months while the Bears seem content to let him twist in the wind on the one-year franchise tender.

Keep up the good fight Matt. We'll just be busy over here winning games with Jay Cutler, Michael Bush and Brandon Marshall.

Interesting. Bad move by Forte imo, but his decision.

Right now he's just missing voluntary OTA's right? But if he's under contract, based on the last CBA, can't he be subject to huge daily fines? I hope so, and I hope he's fined. Wasn't it like $20K a day or something? Or is he not considered under contract and not subject to fines?

patryk7754 wrote:Pay the man nobody has carried their team like matt forte since hes been in the league and hes a top 5 RB in the NFL. He deserves foster money

They offered to pay him, and in fact if he's franchised, they will be paying him quite well.

I don't agree he deserves Foster money. Most of those huge money RB deals appear to be great for the player, not so great for the team.

As we don't have to manage a cap and it's not our money, sure it's easy to say 'pay the man'. The Bears however need to make smart football decisions and they already offered to pay the man, from 13 to 15 *guaranteed*. He declined. Oh well.