Bear(ing) the News – A Chicago Bears Blog

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

“Would you agree that if Ryan Pace doesn’t sign Alshon Jeffrey he should be fired? Four years at $15 million per year sounds about right. Dumping Matt Forte was stupid enough. A running back who has cared for his body so well was certainly a low-risk — even at 30 — and was willing to sign a Bears-friendly contract, even for a single year. Two such decisions, although meant to make Pace appear bold and decisive, would tell us that he is instead doing more harm than good and not ready for GM responsibilities. — Bob W., Saxtons River, Vt.

“Whoa! Let’s tap the brakes here. For starters, signing Jeffery to a multi-year contract involves a negotiation and it takes two parties to get a deal done. I would imagine Jeffery will be seeking a five-year contract because the longer the deal, the larger the guarantee for him. That is also in line with what Julio Jones, Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas received in the last year – five-year contract extensions. I would imagine securing a long-term contract for Jeffery is a priority, but Pace can’t do a deal by himself. I’d believe the Bears want to be below $15 million per season in an annual average too but the market continues to climb.”

Biggs goes on to explain why the decision to let Forte go wasn’t necessarily a bad one and why the comparison between Forte’s situation and Jeffery’s isn’t a valid one.

On the surface, giving Jeffery the franchise tag and negotiating a long-tem contract would seem to be a no brainer:

• He’s their only candidate for the tag.
• They have plenty of cap space.
• He’s by far their best proven playmaker.
• He’s still young in his mid-twenties.
• He wasn’t healthy last year but that hasn’t been his history.

It’s the last of these points that worries me. Though I say he hasn’t had an injury history, technically what I mean is that he doesn’t have a history of missing games. There are no indications from the Bears as to what they’re going to do with Jeffery but persistent rumors that he doesn’t take care of his body like he should and that it has resulted in the soft tissues problems that he, in actuality, has typically exhibited have me worried. Much though I dislike the idea, there is a possibility that the Bears won’t apply the tag, effectively letting Jeffery go to collect big money on the free agent market that the Bears are unlikely to match.

If the Bears decide that Jeffery isn’t worth the franchise tag it would be a crushing blow. The idea of having both Jeffery and fellow wide receiver Kevin White on the field at the same time next season presented a strength – perhaps the only strength – that the Bears would have. Letting him go because he’s not the player that we on the outside thought he was would mean that the roster is just that much farther away from being what you need to compete consistently.

Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune asks one of the many questions that follow the exits of Matt Forte:

“What will the Bears miss without Forte?

“Where do you even start? Probably his football intelligence. Or his durability and toughness. Or his versatility. Or his unselfish, low-maintenance demeanor.”

How about his instincts? An upright runner, the Bears have rarely had a running back with better vision. Because it isn’t as apparent as superior athleticism (which Forte didn’t lack) and flash, this greatest of his assets made his talent hard to recognize and is one of the things that caused him to be amongst the most underrated players in the league.

Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune discusses the exit of running back Matt Forte. In doing so he exposes the real reason for Forte’s exit:

“Behind Langford, Ka’Deem Carey made strides in 2015, first earning greater opportunity as a special teams contributor, then seeing flashes of work in the backfield. Carey’s burst remains his most noticeable strength, and the Bears are hoping he’ll use that to compete for the No. 2 role.”

Many people will point to the emergence of Jeremy Langford as the primary reason for Forte’s exit. But the Bears will almost certainly continue to run a back field with two backs and having depth at the position is a must.

In addition to Carey, Wiederer mentions the presence of Jacquizz Rodgers and Senorise Perry. These three men, all of whom are hard runners and all of whom contribute on special teams, are the reason why the Bears didn’t want to spend money, even at a fair price, on Forte. Carey’s emergence as a special teams contributor, in particular, probably did as much as anything to determine Forte’s fate with the team.

None of these four men are the equal of Forte (I loved Steve Rosenbloom‘s parting comment in his column: “Tip to Langford: Don’t drop a pass.”).  But the Bears apparently like their running backs. Add the possibility that they may find that a another one is the best available player in the fourth or fifth round again and they have a glut at the position. It’s a shame that it led to the departure of one of the most professional players on the team in Forte but it’s still a nice problem to have.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune speculates upon where former Bears running back Matt Forte may land now that he is officially entering free agency:

“The question now is where will Forte land? He would be an ideal fit for the Cardinals offense or for the Packers, who got underwhelming production from Eddie Lacy last season and could lose James Starks to free agency.”

Like almost all Bears fans, I would hate to see Forte as a Packer or to see him go anywhere in the NFC North, for that matter.  David Haugh mentions the Seattle Seahawks as a possible destination but running back Thomas Rawls out played Marshawn Lynch this season an is obviously the future there.  Other realistic options include the Cowboys and the Redskins.  I’ve heard the Broncos mentioned but they probably won’t have much in the way of cap space.  The Texans and the Colts are also possibilities.

Personally, my first thought was the New England Patriots, who certainly were short in the running game at the end of their playoff run. Dion Lewis is a wonderful back but he isn’t as versatile as Forte and he will becoming off of a torn ACL next season.  Forte is on record as saying that his first priority is to go to a team that can win a Super Bowl. The Patriots certainly are that and they would certainly know how to use him.

Whatever happens, I think there’s a market of Forte.  If money really isn’t the first object there will probably be plenty of contenders for him to choose from and no one would be happier than me to see such a class act win a Super Bowl with one of them.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune discusses the case of wide receiver Alshon Jeffery.

“It’s time for the Bears to take care of one of their own, and they aren’t in position to let highly productive players in their prime leave. The last draft picks to be resigned to multiyear contracts by the Bears both came from the 2008 class: running back Matt Forte, who got a four-year contract when his rookie deal expired, and tight end Kellen Davis, who re-upped for two years in 2012. That means the Bears went three drafts (2009 through 2011) without extending the contract of any draft selection for multiple years. Defensive tackle Henry Melton, a fourth-round pick in 2009, was re-signed for one season on the franchise tag in 2013.

“The Bears project to have $55 million in salary-cap room before any moves, so that’s not an issue. If Jeffery gets to the open market, there could be a serious bidding war as 18 teams project to have more than $25 million in cap space. That makes tagging Jeffery and then working toward a longer-term agreement the most logical path.”

There’s not a more damning statistic that I can find that describes the Bears success drafting than the one Biggs quotes in the first paragraph. If the draft is the life blood of your organization, the desire to sign the players you’ve drafted to a second contract is one of the best measures of how you did. And the Bears have been miserable.

As Biggs says, general manager Ryan Pace has been coy about what he’s going to do with the Jeffery situation. But they’d be fools to let him hit the market. He’s as good a franchised now.

Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com comments on the implementation of a new NFL rule that bars college players with a record of certain types of crimes from participating in the Scouting Combine, attending the draft, or appearing at any other league-sanctioned event before they are selected:

“…Does it make a difference if players convicted of domestic violence, sexual assault, or weapons offenses are banned from attending the Scouting Combine? Teams will still find out everything they need to know about the player, and teams will still draft talented players regardless of their personal history.

“The only way to ever change that would be to tie draft-pick forfeitures on teams who give a player a second chance and who then fail to ensure that the player doesn’t get in trouble again. To be clear, I’m not saying the league should do it that way; instead, I’m saying that any other approach is window dressing and/or P.R. spit-and-polish.”

I think Florio misses the point. Window dressing is exactly what this is. The image of the NFL takes a hit every time a player with this kind of history shows his face at a league-sanctioned event. This is meant to limit that until it can’t be helped.