Chicago Bears RB Forte's mind on production, not new contract
BOURBONNAIS — In addition to establishing himself as one of the NFL's most productive, versatile and durable running backs in his seven seasons with the Bears, Matt Forte also has become a realist.
Forte floated a trial balloon in the off-season to see if the Bears had any interest in extending his four-year, $30.4 million deal, which is in its final year.
They didn't.
Forte accepts their decision, which is fairly easy to do when you're earning a base salary of $7.05 million and have a cap number of $9.2 million, as Forte does.
“From my aspect, I was trying to lower the cap number (for this year), and then I'd be able to continue my career here as well,” he said Thursday as the Bears officially opened training camp.
“But you can't have your cake and eat it, too. Both sides have to want to do it, and if they don't want to see it that way, then I have to wait until after the season and I'll be a free agent.”
In the final month of the coming season, Forte will turn 30, the age at which most NFL teams consider running backs — especially featured, workhorse running backs — damaged merchandise and pay them as such.
Forte appears capable of proving an exception to that rule, although his numbers last season offered mixed results.
The 6-foot-2, 218-pound second-round pick out of Tulane produced his third straight 1,000-yard season and fifth overall. He had 929 rushing yards in 2009 and 997 in 2011, when he was limited to 12 games. Aside from that season, Forte has missed just one other career start.
His 102 receptions (for 808 yards) were the most by a running back in NFL history, and he became only the second player in history with at least 1,000 rushing yards and 100 catches.
But Forte's 3.9-yard average per carry was his worst in five years and the second lowest of his career. On 266 carries, he had just 1 gain of more than 20 yards, a 32-yard pickup in mid-November. Critics point to that as evidence that he has lost his explosiveness.
And Forte knows he'll have to prove that he hasn't lost his youthful burst to earn another fat contract.
“The NFL is production-based,” he said. “You produce, you get rewarded. But then sometimes, when it comes time to be rewarded, it doesn't happen, and if you complain about it, you're a bad guy or something like that. I'm not worried about it because I'm at the end of my deal. It's my last year in this deal, and I was compensated correctly four years ago, so at the end of this deal we'll see what happens.”
It's impossible to ignore Forte's 3,779 yards from scrimmage and 22 combined touchdowns over the previous two years.
And new coach John Fox has expressed a desire to create more of a power running game than the Bears exhibited last season, which is fine with Forte.
“Catching 100 balls is not my goal as a running back,” he said. “Coach Fox loves to run the ball and establish the run. Plus, if you're running the ball effectively, you get to control the clock and keep other offenses off the field, which is what we want to do. If we can control the game, control the pace of the game and grind out tough yards and score, then that's what we're going to do.”
When he was asked about the running back position after Thursday's first training camp practice, it was no accident that Forte was the only individual Fox mentioned.
“He has close to Hall of Fame-type numbers, whether it's as a receiver or a runner,” Fox said. “I go way back to watching him coming out of Tulane. He's the most accomplished guy that we have. I haven't seen him in pads yet, but I've seen a lot of tape of him.”
If Forte's tale of the of the tape at the end of the season tells the story of a veteran running back still producing at an exceptional level, he'll be rewarded. If not, he'll go the way of most other over-30 running backs.
“I'm just banking on continuing to produce like I always do,” Forte said. “And at the end of the season, or maybe during the season, something happens then.”