[#1 Blackcat Fan]

I have been a die hard Bears fan since the 85 Super Bowl team. What is the problem with the Bears front office. You have a player who has carried your offense for four years & compared to other elite RB's in the NFL he has been paid pocket change. Heck his backup last year (Barber) was paid 4 times Forte's salary. What a slap in the face.
I'm a Michael Bush fan, but he is no Forte. The combination of the 2 would be awesome. Will you idiots please pay the man what he is worth before someone else does?
What are anyone else's thoughts on the situation?

[Jarons]

The Bears are still in the NFL?:biggrin:

[#1 Blackcat Fan]

The Bears are still in the NFL?:biggrin:

How could your forget Jarons. Da Bears have an all time record against the Steelers of 17-7-1. Maybe that will refresh your memory. :welcome:

[judgementday]

It is mind boggling that they have not given him a new contract but the Bears organization does stuff like this. Remember when the same issue was going on with Lance Briggs. I don't understand it. Lets hope this gets taken care of so that it isn't a distraction when the season begins. Would like to see them above .500 next year.

[#1 Blackcat Fan]

It is mind boggling that they have not given him a new contract but the Bears organization does stuff like this. Remember when the same issue was going on with Lance Briggs. I don't understand it. Lets hope this gets taken care of so that it isn't a distraction when the season begins. Would like to see them above .500 next year.

I dont understand either. If they sign Forte, barring any injuries, they are a legit playoff team. The Bears where 7-3 last year going into week 12. Cutler goes down that week, and 2 weeks later Forte goes down. They go 1-5 the last 6 games.

Wake up front office & take care of your business!!! :HitWall:

If not you can :gtfo:

[Do-double-gg]

At one time I was a huge nfl football fan,but now I just find it hard to take.
If I hear another person say this is just a buisness I may vomit. The player's are more and more just in it for the cash and they have no team pride or loyality and neither do the coache's and owners. I like college football more and more and if they do go to this post season play in 2014 I think more and more people will jump on the college football train. I believe that if it works and they ever start like a 8 or 10 team playoff in place then I may just drop the nfl all together. In my op,if they do go to a post season in 2014 it will start to cut into the nfl's buisness just a little because college is just more pure then the nfl. What do all of you think about this:Thumbs:

[zaga_fan]

Please tell me what this guy is "worth".

Because I promise you it is a lot less than what he has been paid for anyway.

There are a lot of hungry players that would work just as hard for less money. The running backs in the league are slowly becoming very replaceable. It's more about plugging as many guys in as you can that it is paying one person a lot of money to run it on every down.

[#1 Blackcat Fan]

Please tell me what this guy is "worth".

Because I promise you it is a lot less than what he has been paid for anyway.

There are a lot of hungry players that would work just as hard for less money. The running backs in the league are slowly becoming very replaceable. It's more about plugging as many guys in as you can that it is paying one person a lot of money to run it on every down.

Let me start by saying i think all professional athletes are way over paid.
Now you say he is worth a lot less than what he is paid. Do you even know what he has been paid?

Here are some stats for you. Let me remind you this is from one of the worst offensive teams in the league. Not to mention opposing defenses have keyed in on Forte game after game.

'08-'09 - 1,715 yards rushing & rec with 12 td's
'09-'10 - 1,400 yards rushing & rec with 4 td's
'10-'11 - 1,616 yards rushing & rec with 9 td's
'11-'12 - 1,487 yards rushing & rec with 4 td's - he did not play last 4 games

He is not a goal line back is the reason for not so many td's. He is the man who gets you to the red zone. Now you tell me how many backs in the league produce these numbers & are paid less than $555,000 per year. That has been Forte's salary during his 4 year career with the Bears.

He is by far the most productive back they have had in some time & is not rewarded for it.

The only RB's in the league who have had more rec yards than him in this four year span are as follows
'08-'09 Kevin Faulk
'09-'10 Ray Rice, Chris Johnson, Darren Sproles
'10-'11 Arian Foster, Lesean Mccoy, Ray Rice
'11-'12 Darren Sproles, Ray Rice, Arian Foster - Forte did not play last 4 games.

Do you still say he is worth less than he is paid?

[judgementday]

Plain and simple, Forte is worth more than he is being paid.

[LWC]

I believe the two parties are at opposite ends:

Forte's camp wants Chris Johnson money and the Bears are basically saying that the Titans are stupid to give CJ that kind of money.

If he made 1/2 Million and Chris Johnson's deal averages 13.4 Million per season (MJD makes 13.1 Million) there is a WIDE gap. If they met in the middle it would be a 6.95 Million per season deal.

The AVERAGE NFL salary is $990,000 per season. According to this link: (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/nfl-player-salaries.html)

[LWC]

Forte, Matt 2009-2010 salary = $ 388,120

Brian Urlacher, in 2009-2010 made $6,125,000.

Obviously that was three years ago, so money is different. At the time, Urlacher made the 4th most on the team for that season and Forte was the 3rd LOWEST.

[zaga_fan]

Forte, Matt 2009-2010 salary = $ 388,120

Brian Urlacher, in 2009-2010 made $6,125,000.

Obviously that was three years ago, so money is different. At the time, Urlacher made the 4th most on the team for that season and Forte was the 3rd LOWEST.

You guys are missing the point.
Even Blackcat contradicted himself in his post.

Is 400k a year pocket change?
You get to play the greatest game in the world for a living and you're going to complain that you only get 3 new cars this year?!

Athletes in the NFL make me sick with all of this holdout crap and athletes in the NBA make me sick with requesting trades.

Just put the college kids in pro uniforms and pay them what Cam Newton made at Auburn. It would be more entertaining.

[LWC]

^I think you are missing my point. To me it is about value. Is Forte more valuable than ONLY two players on the team?

It doesn't matter to me if he gets paid $1.00 or $20 Million. It is about value. For all I care he can become the highest paid player in the league and donate it right back to the Bears official charitable organization or a charity or church of his choice. It doesn't matter.

[LWC]

.

[#1 Blackcat Fan]

My point exactly. Again i think all professional athletes are way over paid. My point of the matter is if any one can not list Forte as a top ten back in the league then there blind. He is being paid well below league minimum. During his 4 years of making chump change he said nothing & done nothing but what he was paid to do & that was to produce. He now knows he is at an age where he needs a long term deal and wants paid for his production & i for one do not blame him. He is securing his future.
A note to my prior post the $555,000 salary was only for last season. He made much less the 3 prior years as LWC has stated.

PAY THE MAN. HE HAS A QUALITY BACK TO GO WITH HIM IN THE BACKFIELD NOW. THEY CAN SHARE THE WORK LOAD & GET MORE PRODUCTIVE YEARS FROM FORTE.

[B][/B]

[zaga_fan]

^I think you are missing my point. To me it is about value. Is Forte more valuable than ONLY two players on the team?

It doesn't matter to me if he gets paid $1.00 or $20 Million. It is about value. For all I care he can become the highest paid player in the league and donate it right back to the Bears official charitable organization or a charity or church of his choice. It doesn't matter.

He will make 7.8 million next year if they don't restructure his contract and he plays under the franchise tender.
He's coming off of an MCL sprain.
They brought in Michael Bush.
Tell me how much more money they need to pay him.

[zaga_fan]

I can guarantee that if ole' boy comes in this year and plays well then he will get his payday next year.

And if he would get off of Twitter, quit doing interviews, and work a little harder...
he may have a great season and get a bigger payday

[#1 Blackcat Fan]

You guys are missing the point.
Even Blackcat contradicted himself in his post.

Is 400k a year pocket change?You get to play the greatest game in the world for a living and you're going to complain that you only get 3 new cars this year?!

Athletes in the NFL make me sick with all of this holdout crap and athletes in the NBA make me sick with requesting trades.

Just put the college kids in pro uniforms and pay them what Cam Newton made at Auburn. It would be more entertaining.

No its not, but your missing the point.
This is a guy who has been paid league minimum for his career & produced more than most RB's in the league that are getting paid millions.
This is NOT a guy who had a 3 year $30 million dollar deal crying wanting $60 million.
Once more i think all professional athletes are over paid, but it happens.
My point is when you have a guy thats backing you up being paid 4 times your salary i would be pissed to.

Lets put this in perspective in our lives. If you are the main rod at your job & you produce more than your co-workers & they get paid $4-$5 more on the hour than you. Would you not want to negotiate your pay? Would you not think you should be getting paid more since you have proven your production over the years? You have proven you can do a better job than most in your field of work & you want paid. Right?

[#1 Blackcat Fan]

He will make 7.8 million next year if they don't restructure his contract and he plays under the franchise tender.
He's coming off of an MCL sprain.
They brought in Michael Bush.
Tell me how much more money they need to pay him.

He will make that because of the franchise tag. He wants a long term deal not a 1 year multi million dollar deal. He is simply looking out for himself and his.

[zaga_fan]

No its not, but your missing the point.
This is a guy who has been paid league minimum for his career & produced more than most RB's in the league that are getting paid millions.
This is NOT a guy who had a 3 year $30 million dollar deal crying wanting $60 million.
Once more i think all professional athletes are over paid, but it happens.
My point is when you have a guy thats backing you up being paid 4 times your salary i would be pissed to.

Lets put this in perspective in our lives. If you are the main rod at your job & you produce more than your co-workers & they get paid $4-$5 more on the hour than you. Would you not want to negotiate your pay? Would you not think you should be getting paid more since you have proven your production over the years? You have proven you can do a better job than most in your field of work & you want paid. Right?

Nice illustration...
but it only shows part of the dilemma..

You also have a new guy coming in who can contribute in crunch-time, so you aren't as important (Michael Bush)
You've not been at work in months because of an illness and your boss doesn't know exactly how you are going to come back and perform.
You are offered a 1300% raise for a year to see how things go.


If Forte plays this season under the franchise tag he will be in for a payday next year if all goes well.
If I were the Bears - there is NO way that I would throw a long-term deal at this cat and him coming off of an injury. I know it was just an MCL sprain, but running backs don't exactly last a long time to begin with.
I would give him a year under the franchise tag and then see where we go from there.

[LWC]

The Bears would LOVE if he agreed to the franchise tag. They pay him a more than fair amount, the fans get off their back, and they get a year of good production in a league where RB's dont last. He may only have 1-3 years left, so he obviously wants at least a 3 year deal.

[zaga_fan]

He's got 3 years of elite production left IMO
He's probably got 3 good years after that if he can share the load with someone.

[LWC]

The danger for the Bears is that he challenges the franchise tag, wins and gets a monstrous 1-season contract.

I would say that they work out a 3-year deal for $23 million, very front-loaded with a lot of production bonuses. At LEAST 15 million guaranteed.

[#1 Blackcat Fan]

Nice illustration...
but it only shows part of the dilemma..

You also have a new guy coming in who can contribute in crunch-time, so you aren't as important (Michael Bush)You've not been at work in months because of an illness and your boss doesn't know exactly how you are going to come back and perform.
You are offered a 1300% raise for a year to see how things go.


If Forte plays this season under the franchise tag he will be in for a payday next year if all goes well.
If I were the Bears - there is NO way that I would throw a long-term deal at this cat and him coming off of an injury. I know it was just an MCL sprain, but running backs don't exactly last a long time to begin with.
I would give him a year under the franchise tag and then see where we go from there.

LOL, dont get me wrong because i love Bush, but he started his NFL career on IR. For the long term i would put my money on Forte. I am so glad to have Bush though. He is one of my favorite players in the league.
On a side note Zaga if your comeing to the P'burg vs Perry game let me know i would like to meet some of the people on here.

[zaga_fan]

LOL, dont get me wrong because i love Bush, but he started his NFL career on IR. For the long term i would put my money on Forte. I am so glad to have Bush though. He is one of my favorite players in the league.
On a side note Zaga if your comeing to the P'burg vs Perry game let me know i would like to meet some of the people on here.

Bush will be the Redzone back and short-yardage back IMO

And I never miss the opening game
We may have a slump ahead of us this year - so no gloating like I did after we beat you last year

[#1 Blackcat Fan]

Bush will be the Redzone back and short-yardage back IMOAnd I never miss the opening game
We may have a slump ahead of us this year - so no gloating like I did after we beat you last year

No doubt.
Its our turn to win by 1. Last 3 games 21-20 Perry, 21-20 P'burg, & 35-34 Perry. Each winning on there home field. We get to break in the turf with you guys.

[Amun-Ra]

The Bears could end up having a very good team this year, especially if Urlacher is healthy.

[LWC]

I said 3 for 23 and he got 4 for 32. I was pretty close on the money, but he got an additional year.

[#1 Blackcat Fan]

Sheeeewwww. I was really sweating that one.

[vundy33]

Please tell me what this guy is "worth".

Because I promise you it is a lot less than what he has been paid for anyway.

There are a lot of hungry players that would work just as hard for less money. The running backs in the league are slowly becoming very replaceable. It's more about plugging as many guys in as you can that it is paying one person a lot of money to run it on every down.

Lol, You are crazy man. This thread isn't about how athletes are overpaid, it's about giving Matt Forte a contract...ya know, the guy who has done more for Chicago in the past few years than any other Bear. He's earned the right to a contract instead or getting Franchised.

Now, the NFL pay-scale is an ENTIRELY different discussion.