The Chicago Bears will have to address RB Matt Forte‘s contract during the offseason after shutting down talks early on in the season. When Jerry Angelo was still in place as the teams GM it appeared as though the Bears would use their franchise tag on him rather than negotiate a long-term contract.
Forte discussed the possibility of the Bears using their franchise tag on him during the offseason with ESPNChicago.com.
“A lot of teams franchise guys so that they can get a deal done or negotiate a deal,” said Forte. “It just depends on what the motive of that is. … I wouldn’t say holdout, but people probably wouldn’t know where I was.”
Forte does concede that there’s a “pretty good chance” that the Bears will use their tag on him but as he said, teams can choose to negotiate a new contract following the designation. Forte chose to play the season out and honor his contract only to get hurt late into the season. Chicago needs Forte simply because he’s one of the leagues most versatile running backs and accounts for a good majority of the teams offense.
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