Matt Forte is p*ssed

[Phicinfan]

Is Forte getting more now? No he is not, so let him waste potentially millions in compensation to hold out for more later, instead of just making it now.

Okay, he plays for the tag #. He gets $7 million. He blows his knee out. He is done.

OR

He holds out, he negotiates with Bears or gets traded. He gets 3-4 year deal worth $35 Million, with $15 million guaranteed. Now if he gets hurt.....

So you tell me which is better. And try to be honest here.

 

[Arctic Dawgs]

Michael Bush is not Matt Forte. If the Bears want to downgrade from Forte to Bush, I don't see what the big deal is. He doesn't have to play if he doesn't want to risk injury. Yes, franchise tags aren't a part of the regular business world, but few things are.

AD, it's different for Brees. Brees is more valuable to the Saints (now more than ever), than the Saints are to Brees. They need to pay him the money--ALL the money.

I was refering to Brees last season in SD when he hurt his shoulder. He was playing under an FT then

 

[Arctic Dawgs]

Okay, he plays for the tag #. He gets $7 million. He blows his knee out. He is done.

OR

He holds out, he negotiates with Bears or gets traded. He gets 3-4 year deal worth $35 Million, with $15 million guaranteed. Now if he gets hurt.....

So you tell me which is better. And try to be honest here.

Prettty much what I was sayin. Brees damn near lost it all back then. On top of getting the guaranteed there is some kind of injury insurance and player pension involved in the length a contract as well. If you are on a 1 year deal, "Too bad for you". Hell, I'm not even sure if FT contracts are fully guaranteed

 

[RLLD]

Okay, he plays for the tag #. He gets $7 million. He blows his knee out. He is done.

OR

He holds out, he negotiates with Bears or gets traded. He gets 3-4 year deal worth $35 Million, with $15 million guaranteed. Now if he gets hurt.....

So you tell me which is better. And try to be honest here.

He sucks it up and treats this like a business, just like everybody else. He does not cry about being disrespected. The players long ago made sure that this was their bed, they have made it, now they can lie in it.

If his wittul feewings got huwt because he feels disrespected then he better be sure to stick to football, because that excrement does not fly in the business world.

Oh wait, its only business when he wants more money, right?

 

[gizzil]

the 7.7 is guaranteed - aint got no love, or sympathy

 

[deuce4321]

Ft is part of the rules of the league. Every Fa player has the chance to be tagged. If a player doesn't like to get paid to play a game then he shouldn't be in the NFL. It is his decision to join and the rules are laid out for him.

 

[Orgazmo]

Either through injury or performance, recent big contracts given to running backs haven't yielded much return on investment. The Bears have Bush and could draft a quality back in the 3rd round for peanuts. Forte needs to take his head out of the sand, realize it's a bad era to be a running back and take his 7 mill.

 

[Phicinfan]

Okay once again I call :bs:
You all bitch when a player holds out! Play your contract you all state. Its a business!

But you all seem to forget that PART of that business is the fact that the contracts are not all guaranteed. So a team can cut a guy long before the real money of a "supposed" contract hits. Oh, but its a business. He gets his money right?

No, and the owners are making millions on these guys, as they fly around and kill each other, and are all but ready to kick the guy to the curb if he gets hurt or declines.

Oh, and in case you all forget, its a business. As such, if you don't agree to the agreement, you do have the right to hold out, which is also part of the business. Oh, and also, the PLAYERS didn't want the tags. They were negotiated in for owner protection.

So again, as I have stated, yeah I realize a team can tag the guy, and he has little he can do. But he doesn't have to be happy about it, and you all are dreaming crap if you think it is fair.

 

[Phicinfan]

I will also add that whoever the numb nuts was that said the team declined due to Cutler and not Forte is wrong. Forte made that offense, he WAS the offense. Losing Forte hurt the fill in Qbs, not just the team. Had they had any real Wrs or Te who they traded away it may have been different.

 

[cctekguy]

...Meantime, down here in the joke butt capitol of America....deep south, small town, redneck, hillbilly, inbred, bubba world of rural life...

I am over paid.

I am over paid because my boss (a human being) understands my situation.

I, in return, try to go that extra mile to put my boss's interests first.

Nothing is written, there are no contracts.

Yes, he could could screw me...but he won't.

Yes, I could screw him....but I won't.

It's the way business used to work before everyone got scared. Before agents, lawyers and unions put thier greedy hands into mix.

Not sure why I'm offering this sappy monologue except maybe to express my extreme saddness over the way things have become in professional sports.

Carry on...

 

[deuce4321]

Phic. It is not a rule that the player can hold out. They are penalized for the act. The owners are the owners. They are suppose to try to make money because they took the financial risk of buying the team. If a player is not playing to the expectations of his contract he is fired. If I don't do my job my boss will fire me. It motivates me to perform to expectations.

 

[xqj47alpha]

The purpose of a contract is to ensure employment. kind of like a lease.
Firing can be a breach of contract.

remember what Gruden did to Key?
But Key still got paid.

His value took a huge hit though

neither lasted much longer in the game.
so probably don't want to go there

 

[Jackson]

Phic. It is not a rule that the player can hold out. They are penalized for the act. The owners are the owners. They are suppose to try to make money because they took the financial risk of buying the team. If a player is not playing to the expectations of his contract he is fired. If I don't do my job my boss will fire me. It motivates me to perform to expectations.

Players under the franchise tag can hold out without penalty until well into the season. Also, Virginia McCaskey owns the Bears, and she inherited the team from her papa, Papa Bear Halas. ALSO, she's not making the decision to pay or not pay Matt Forte. She is, like a reasonable person, leaving that decision to her GM, first Jerry Angelo, then Phil Emery. Who both like Matt Forte as a player, by the way--which is why they franchised him. But it's also their job to not pay running backs for the same reason running backs need to get paid fast and handsomely: because they're fungible, they age fast, and they're particularly susceptible to catastrophic injury. Hey, how are those Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson deals working out?

What slays Matt Forte even more than the risk of injury this year is that the Bears can do it two more times. Who's going to give a 28 year old workhorse running-back a ridiculous contract? I don't know; Al Davis isn't with us anymore. Matt Forte only real leverage, even more than holding out (which, if it impacts his play for the worse, negatively affects his next contract), is to make the GM's look like jerks to the fans and/or other players. Hence the Twitter/radio angst.

If it's truly not worth it, Matt can go be a baker, bond trader, high school coach, or take a year or two to figure things out with even his (relatively) modest salary he's been paid so far. His body will be better served for it. I hope it works out for him, but I won't lose any sleep over it.

 

[gizzil]

very nice jackson!!!

 

[xqj47alpha]

nothing good ever comes from 'twittering'.
ever

Because you can't get pee out of a pool, etc...

 

[Jackson]

I think Forte's outburst is a combination of a couple things.

This entire thread has been about money, and I totally get it. From the outside looking in, it's entirely a money thing. Forte has played hard for them, and the offense has literally flowed through him. He was stuck on a crappy rookie contract, paying him squat, and then essentially got **** on when time came for the team to "make it right" by him.

I don't think that's the whole issue though. I think Forte likes being a Bear. I think he's genuinely one of these guys who landed in a spot that he loves, and sees himself being a career Bear. I don't think he wants to go anywhere else, and is deeply saddened that he loves his team much more than his team loves him. This explains the Tweets when he's emotional about the situation. The team simply doesn't show him the love and respect that he wants so badly from them.

Well, sheesh, most players would prefer not to hop teams, all things being equal. But using the word "team" here is misleading. He may love his teammates, coaches, fans, or the city. But those aren't the people deciding what he gets paid. They can give him all the respect in the world, but that's not what it's about. It's about the GM (and in high-profile cases, the owner) who decides to pay him the money. And he should care about that. His teammates, coaches, fans, or city won't, except as it relates to them, or, at best, abstractly.

I'm sure everybody wants to feel validated and appreciated, but it's obvious why money is the medium to express that. It's a higher strata of NFL players than running backs that don't have to worry about the money.

 

[xqj47alpha]

sometimes we all say the same things, only differently.

 

[Phicinfan]

Phic. It is not a rule that the player can hold out. They are penalized for the act. The owners are the owners. They are suppose to try to make money because they took the financial risk of buying the team. If a player is not playing to the expectations of his contract he is fired. If I don't do my job my boss will fire me. It motivates me to perform to expectations.

This is not the same, and you trying to make it so is laughable. If YOU or I had a contract, they could not just cut ties. They would have to follow and document all the issues, and most importantly the attempts to fix things. This does not happen in the NFL.

As for you other argument, show me one damn owner that went bankrupt, and I will agree. It is one thing to make money, it is another to totally use a guy, and cut him loose with no net.

 

[gizzil]

it's wrong perhaps morally but the rules to the game are already set, and the players and ownership are bound to them. Also we don't make these enormous salaries, and quite frankly you can be fired from your job whenever for any reason. If you really want to spend your money on a lawyer after that when you have no job to investigate whether it was legal to do so - youre well within your rights to do so... but, far as i know - i could get fired tomorrow too, lose health benefits and etc - my company used the probably the best years my body had and i will almost certainly feel the effects in the long term. i feel for the players and hate the owners - im not saying i dont, it's just, we're talking about 8 million dollars isnt fair, and i dont buy it. the game the way it's set up this is the bears' best move

 

[Remote Controller]

I will catch up on this thread.....review all of the posts........then render a decision on who's right.