The Chicago Bears today placed the franchise tag on RB Matt Forte. For those unaware, let’s review exactly what that means. It means that the Bears have until July 16th to continue to try to work out a contract extension if they so desire. If no deal has been struck by that date, then Forte will be paid the average of the top 5 salaries at his position. For running backs in 2012, the price of the franchise tag is $7.7 Million.
While it is a significant salary for one season, players generally have a very negative view of the franchise tag. Most would prefer the security of a multi-year deal. However, as Forte himself noted earlier this year, “A lot of teams franchise guys so that they can get a deal done or negotiate a deal.” He has said that he’d be open to the tag if that were the motive for it. If the Bears don’t plan on pursuing a multi-year deal and instead expect Matt to play out this season under the tag, however, there may be repercussions. “I wouldn’t say holdout, but people probably wouldn’t know where I was,” Forte said. “It just depends on what the motive of that is.”
In terms of a long-term deal, there are some stumbling blocks to getting a deal done. First is the issue of durability. Teams just don’t want to guarantee a lot of money to a player who plays a position that has such a penchant for injuries. Secondly, the contract that the Carolina Panthers gave to DeAngelo Williams last year (5 years, $43 million, $21M guaranteed) was way above market value. Forte and his agent will try to base their contract off of that one claiming that Forte is a better player and should be higher paid than Williams. The Bears will say that they shouldn’t be obligated to overpay just because some other team did. This is the same situation that the Ravens find themselves in with their running back, Ray Rice (who was also franchised on Friday).
The optimists among us have some signs that they can point to as potential positives too. The first is the Bears salary cap situation. As they now stand, the Bears are about $28 million under the salary cap. So they have no financial restraints to getting a deal done. Also, if the franchise tag holds the full $7.7M would count against the cap. If they were to get a deal done instead, they could spread the signing bonus over the length of the contract for cap purposes. This would reduce the amount that Forte would count against the salary cap. You would also think that the Bears would like to get this settled before free agency starts so they’d have a more exact idea of who they can afford to explore (at the WR position, maybe??). Also, it might be a stretch but it could be a good sign that Matt wasn’t franchised until late in the day Friday. New GM Phil Emery was said to re-open negotiations with Forte’s agent during the NFL Combine last weekend and it’s possible that they could be close to a deal. We also can’t help but think that Emery would like to make a positive impact in his first big move in his new position. What better way to do that than to lock up one of the Bears’ most important and most popular players?
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