Matt Forte announces he's leaving the Bears

neuronet said:

This discussion is happening on the forum of every good team right now. That is:

Chiefs, Patriots, Broncos, Seahawks (if Lynch retires), Steelers, Panthers, Cardinals, Packers, Vikings

All those teams will want him. Given cap issues, do we stand a realistic chance to compete with them for his hand in marriage? This is not a rhetorical question. I'm wondering, how realistic are our chances? Any cap geniuses here have a good idea? Also, maybe he wants to stay in the midwest, so would be tempted to go with Vikings or Packers? That is, does he have wife/kids with deep roots in that area? Or is he free from family entanglements? Lots of variables here.

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I was thinking the same thing. Every year this happens, right? Intriguing free agent hits the market, and fans of every team start to daydream about picking him up.

Forte says he wants to win and that "money doesn't matter", but it almost always does; I have a hard time seeing us being the highest bidder, but I do think Forte would be a tremendous fit here.

Him and Lewis on the field at the same time would cause some match up problems, especially in a 2 TE set.

He's a great player, good luck to him wherever he ends up, doubt it will be in NE.

neuronet said:

Chiefs, Patriots, Broncos, Seahawks (if Lynch retires), Steelers, Panthers, Cardinals, Packers, Vikings

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Chiefs- Can't see it unless they are moving on from Charles

Broncos- Think they have bigger issues to deal with in FA but also CJ Anderson is only a RFA so they should be able to retain him

Seahawks- Possibly although Rawls had already replaced Lynch and they have bigger priorities like trying to re-sign Kearse, Lane and their Starting LT, RG and C all being Free Agents

Steelers- Bell is there and D'Angelo Williams is still under contract so unless they are cutting Williams and want Forte not sure how likely that is.

Panthers- I see them being more in for Lamar Miller than Forte...

Cardinals- More likely than any of other team outside the Pats, IMO

Packers and Vikings- Can't see Forte going to a Bears division rival. Unless they either overpay him significantly or are the only ones in for him.

BritPat said:

Him and Lewis on the field at the same time would cause some match up problems, especially in a 2 TE set.

He's a great player, good luck to him wherever he ends up, doubt it will be in NE.

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I mentioned that before. The defense won't be able to key on whether or not we'll be running or passing.

SIGN THE BEAST

Chiuba E. Obele said:

Great player! But don't we already have two 3rd down backs on our roster?

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I think you're confusing "third down back" with "three down back."

Honestly guys, unless they fix this O-Line, you could have Jim Brown and Barry Sanders in their primes, and we wouldn't be able to run. That truly is a priority. Would love to get Forte, and we have the makings of a decent O-line, especially with Solder coming back, and year 2 for Mason and Jackson, and hopefully Stork has a comeback year. But we could definitely use a Waters like upgrade on our line, an impact GOOD veteran on the O-Line.

I'd rather see the pats get someone much younger, if he signed here he'll be effective up to 2 seasons max. This looks like another Fred Taylor experiment all over again (even if Taylor was older).

Watch he will end up in Indianapolis like quite a few idiot veterans (Frank Gore, Andre Johnson) have in the last few years. He could also check out an up-and-coming team like the Raiders or Redskins. Not sure the Redskins need his services though.

JMC00 said:

Cardinals- More likely than any of other team outside the Pats, IMO

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David Johnson is gonna be their workhorse for a long time. I reserve the title, "thoroughbred" for only the biggest, strongest, fastest, most complete RBs (AP, Marshawn etc). Johnson is going to be (already is) a thoroughbred. Dumping money into another 1st string RB would be very counterproductive of them.

VrabelJr said:

Watch he will end up in Indianapolis like quite a few idiot veterans (Frank Gore, Andre Johnson) have in the last few years. He could also check out an up-and-coming team like the Raiders or Redskins. Not sure the Redskins need his services though.

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He said he wanted to play with a contender, not a pretender.

Dude is a really good receiving RB, Brady loves those kind of backs. Man..that would be sweet. Just let us dream today.

libra957 said:

I'd rather see the pats get someone much younger, if he signed here he'll be effective up to 2 seasons max. This looks like another Fred Taylor experiment all over again (even if Taylor was older).

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Forte isn't done, just had a 900 yard rushing and 400 yard receiving year. Taylor they year before showed signs he was done. Besides Taylor wasn't brought into be THE back, he was brought in to be depth at the position, much like Lamont Jordan was brought in the year before as a depth guy.

“He’s a threat every time he steps on to the field in a number of different ways: passing game, running game,” Belichick said. “Any time he gets the ball in his hands he’s a good solid player. He’s tough, great vision, great balance. He definitely has the ability to turn nothing into something in a hurry, and he can turn something into a lot in a hurry too.

“(He’s a) hard guy to tackle, does a good job of creating space for himself and finding openings, getting to places where there are fewer defenders and then taking advantage of it. But even when he’s boxed in or guys get a shot of him, he still makes yards. He’s a terrific player; couldn’t say enough good things about him. He’s very good. He gets tough yards, gets yards in space. Catches short passes, runs downfield routes. He’s a very, very complete player.”


-Bill Belichick on Forte

People wonder what they need to do to deal with the top defenses and this is it. If you have Lewis and Forte coming out of the backfield then Miller and Ware or other edge defenders will be spending their day chasing them out in the flat or downfield on wheel routes. The only way you can back these good front sevens of is to make them play the whole field and bringing in an all purpose back of a Forte's caliber is exactly what they need to accomplish that. I hope they get this done the moment free agency opens.

Yeah ummm....Matt has no choice in this matter as I am told by a local fan that the Bears are not resigning him so BB better kick the tires on this one with a little vigor. Assuming he's interested, of course.

Ivan said:

People wonder what they need to do to deal with the top defenses and this is it. If you have Lewis and Forte coming out of the backfield then Miller and Ware or other edge defenders will be spending their day chasing them out in the flat or downfield on wheel routes. The only way you can back these good front sevens of is to make them play the whole field and bringing in an all purpose back of a Forte's caliber is exactly what they need to accomplish that. I hope they get this done the moment free agency opens.

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This ^

Also, over the years, Belichick has found a way to be ahead of the curve on a number of football-related phenomena. He and his coaching/personnel staff have zigged while the rest of the league zagged.

I wonder if the Patriots will invest resources into the running back position this year by signing someone like Forte or Ivory and paring him with Lewis?

Furthermore, they could draft a young promising RB in the middle rounds like one of the kids from Arkansas or Taylor from Florida, for example.

The focus being to improve/enhance the rushing attack in response to the growing trend of sleeker, faster athletes on defenses used to combat all of these pass-happy offenses that predominate the league.

Forte is tailor made for this style offense. Cost aside, I can't imagine BB not having a strong interest in adding him. Here's to crossing all extremities that it happens.

JMC00 said:

Chiefs- Can't see it unless they are moving on from Charles

Broncos- Think they have bigger issues to deal with in FA but also CJ Anderson is only a RFA so they should be able to retain him

Seahawks- Possibly although Rawls had already replaced Lynch and they have bigger priorities like trying to re-sign Kearse, Lane and their Starting LT, RG and C all being Free Agents

Steelers- Bell is there and D'Angelo Williams is still under contract so unless they are cutting Williams and want Forte not sure how likely that is.

Panthers- I see them being more in for Lamar Miller than Forte...

Cardinals- More likely than any of other team outside the Pats, IMO

Packers and Vikings- Can't see Forte going to a Bears division rival. Unless they either overpay him significantly or are the only ones in for him.

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I like the analysis.

I was trying to talk myself down from the likelihood of Forte in a Pats uniform, but it really is a high probability.

He wants to win, money isn't everything according to his own words, and he clearly is able to still be a starting back.

All those other teams listed have either a clear #1 back or a young player who has the talent to be a #1 and should get the chance to prove it this upcoming season. Unless he wants to be a highly paid #2, there isn't much room out there on contenders.

Chiefs have Charles, Davis. Seahawks have Rawls, Jackson. Steelers have Bell, Williams. Panthers have Stewart, Whitaker. Vikings have Peterson. The only possibility is Green Bay if they decided to move on from Lacy, which is possible, but then there's the whole division thing, and Arizona, but they've get the two Johnson's who both played well. The wild card is Denver, who could be in play if they let Hillman and Anderson go, but they've got so many FA I highly doubt they would splurge on Forte.

There really is no better landing spot for him like New England would be.