Chicago Bear nation all held their collective breathe around 12:30 on Sunday afternoon when Matt Forte took the ball from Caleb Hanie around the left end and was hit awkwardly on his knee by a Kansas City defender. Forte immediately clutched his knee and Bears fans feared the worst...a torn ACL. He walked off the field under his own power but was ruled out for the game shortly afterwards. Rumors swirled that Forte had indeed torn knee ligaments but that night news came out that the Bears franchise running back had just sprained his MCL and should be back in 2-4 weeks in time to hopefully save the Bears playoff aspirations. He may be physically able to play as soon as week 15, but I highly doubt we will see him again before the 2012 season...even if he is able to play.
History has proven time and time again that running backs have an extremely short life in the NFL. The most recent estimate is 2.6 years. Once a player is drafted, they play under a rookie contract for four years before being a restricted free agent. Forte is on the fourth and last year of his rookie deal and has been wanting, and deservedly so, a contract extension. Over the first 3.5 years of his career, he has averaged 1,500 yards from scrimmage 9 total touchdowns. Pretty good numbers right? His base salary over that time frame totaled $3.78 million. Meanwhile, the Bears paid Chester Taylor $7 million in 2010 for 267 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns.
Many players have held out (Chris Johnson) and have gotten paid the big bucks ($30 million) and then put up a goose egg for most of the year. Others have played and acted like a disinterested baby (DeSean Jackson) and have turned his own team against him. Matt Forte knew his importance to the Bears offense and overall success of the team (46% of his teams offensive yards run through him). He didn't cry or whine and just went out and put his career and well-being out on the line for the sake of the team assuming the Bears would give him the extension he deserved.
The Bears haven't and Forte nearly had a career ending injury on a simple draw play. Fans give players a hard time for looking out for themselves, but football players, especially running backs, have to look out for #1. If I'm Matt Forte, I don't play until my knee is 110% healthy to ensure I don't put my career at unnecessary risk. Bears fans don't want to hear this but I can definitely see Forte's perspective. Say he comes back week 17, gets hit the wrong way on a not completely knee and his career ends at age 25 with slightly less than $4 million in the bank.
Come the off-season, Forte will either get the franchise tag, good for about $10 million, an extension, in the $20 million range, or get traded to him a team who will give him that extension. Forte went out on risk for the Bears, and now it's time to look out for the most important person in his life. Himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment