Glad to see that Emery is continuing his predecessor's habit of signing draft picks early.

 

It's reported on the Official Chicago Bears page on facebook:

 

"The Bears have agreed to terms on a 4-year contract with 1st round pick Shea McClellin. Hit 'LIKE' if you're happy that Shea is officially a Bear!"

PFT reporting it as well....

 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/...shea-mcclellin/

and the Bears site....

 

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=8807

Sweet. Not as nice given that guys really don't hold out anymore, but its still nice to be done.

Glad to see that Emery is continuing his predecessor's habit of signing draft picks early.

 

It's reported on the Official Chicago Bears page on facebook:

 

"The Bears have agreed to terms on a 4-year contract with 1st round pick Shea McClellin. Hit 'LIKE' if you're happy that Shea is officially a Bear!"

The continuity of getting the rookie deals done goes to Cliff Stein who took over for Teddy,who held the same position before being promoted to team president. If I can remember correctly the Bears have had only 2 holdouts recently Benson and Williams. Thats a pretty good track record.

Sweet. Not as nice given that guys really don't hold out anymore, but its still nice to be done.

 

Love the new CBA! I'm glad not to have contract talk cloud ESPN in August.

Yet another guy making more Guaranteed money than Forte

Yet another guy making more Guaranteed money than Forte

Must you?

Yet another guy making more Guaranteed money than Forte

 

That is a sad state of affairs. Too bad Forte is too greedy to rectify that situation.

Yet another guy making more Guaranteed money than Forte

 

Only because Forte hasn't signed an offer that would have guaranteed him more money so your premise is wrong. FWIW, Forte is guaranteed $7.7million while Shea is guaranteed $7.5million.

Only because Forte hasn't signed an offer that would have guaranteed him more money so your premise is wrong. FWIW, Forte is guaranteed $7.7million while Shea is guaranteed $7.5million.

 

Yes because he wants more. The reason he's getting $7.7 is because he was tagged and it's for 1 year. Shea is getting it over 4. He could have had $13-15M guaranteed if he took the offer last year over however long the contract offer was.

Yes because he wants more. The reason he's getting $7.7 is because he was tagged and it's for 1 year. Shea is getting it over 4. He could have had $13-15M guaranteed if he took the offer last year over however long the contract offer was.

I can see both sides of the arguement on Forte, but I just dont understand how they cant meet somewhere in the middle. I do believe the Bears have upped there offer when Emery took over, I would assume not enough to make a difference thou.

I can see both sides of the arguement on Forte, but I just dont understand how they cant meet somewhere in the middle. I do believe the Bears have upped there offer when Emery took over, I would assume not enough to make a difference thou.

 

 

I can see both sides too. The Bears offer could have very well stayed the same considering no one knows how the knee will feel and the signing of Michael Bush. I would love to keep Forte, but I don't think throwing him the checkbook will make that big of difference.

 

I think he should've taken it when we offered it to him. He had a great season last year up until the injury and we, myself included, sat here and called us cheapskates. He took the chance by thinking he was going to get more money. Sorry, but Forte made his bed. I'd love to keep him, but if he becomes more of a distraction, tag him again next year and let him go if he can't agree to fair terms.

I love the fluidity of this board sometimes. From Shea signed - ho hum, we knew it would happen - to Forte's contract.

 

Forte is being greedy. Period.

I love the fluidity of this board sometimes. From Shea signed - ho hum, we knew it would happen - to Forte's contract.

 

Forte is being greedy. Period.

Where is the +1 or "like" button!!!!

I love the fluidity of this board sometimes. From Shea signed - ho hum, we knew it would happen - to Forte's contract.

 

Forte is being greedy. Period.

 

The new rookie scale eliminated any suspense on getting contracts done - so yeah - ho hum.

 

As for Forte's status, it is early. The key date is July 16th at which point he can no longer negotiate a long term deal this season. After that, it's the franchise tag or sit out - which is kinda pointless since he can't negotiate a long term deal so it provides no leverage.

 

As for the perception that he's being greedy, he probably lost a lot of good will by whining to the media after the Bears signed a competent backup. I think he would have probably retained more sympathy if he'd played it like Ray Rice and STFU.

I wonder how much he's sitting back and letting Tommie Harris mentor him? Tommie lost a lot of incentive based $$ with the injuries and Lovie benching him. I'm sure TH was bitter.

I wonder how much he's sitting back and letting Tommie Harris mentor him? Tommie lost a lot of incentive based $$ with the injuries and Lovie benching him. I'm sure TH was bitter.

 

I think he wants to get paid like Adrian Peterson or Chris Johnson. The problem with that is primarily that AP got injured and CJ underperformed. I think his agent is telling him how to play it, the problem is that there is no successful way to play it when you have no leverage. Forte also kinda got screwed with the new franchise rules in the new CBA, but there's nothing that can be done about it now. The franchise tag is less due to the new calculation giving him less leverage (for instance I think the 2 year franchise cost would have been closer to $20 mil before the changes instead of $15 mil as it is now), and the July 16th cut off date for a long term contract took away a training camp holdout as a negotiation tool.

 

He's kinda limited to what the Bears are willing to offer.

 

I wonder how much he's sitting back and letting Tommie Harris mentor him? Tommie lost a lot of incentive based $$ with the injuries and Lovie benching him. I'm sure TH was bitter.

The Bears still extended Harris' contract after he suffered that major injury. He still got paid guaranteed money for several seasons, when if the Bears hadn't extended his deal, he'd have hit FA after 2007 and had virtually no one interested because it looked like he would never fully recover from that injury and was a near backup (which, honestly, was all true).

 

He got a lot of money from the Bears based on what he did pre-injury. Had Angelo not extended him, he'd have gotten very little.

I think he wants to get paid like Adrian Peterson or Chris Johnson. The problem with that is primarily that AP got injured and CJ underperformed. I think his agent is telling him how to play it, the problem is that there is no successful way to play it when you have no leverage. Forte also kinda got screwed with the new franchise rules in the new CBA, but there's nothing that can be done about it now. The franchise tag is less due to the new calculation giving him less leverage (for instance I think the 2 year franchise cost would have been closer to $20 mil before the changes instead of $15 mil as it is now), and the July 16th cut off date for a long term contract took away a training camp holdout as a negotiation tool.

 

He's kinda limited to what the Bears are willing to offer.

The Sad thing, IMO, is that if he'd been willing to sign an extension 2 years ago, he could have guaranteed himself at least $12 million at the time, and probably been 1 year away from the "forced renegotiation" point.