On Thursday, Matt Forte said he would be fine the Bears slapping the franchise tag on him if leads to a long-term deal in the future. Last offseason Forte turned down a contract from the team that was worth 13 to 14 million in guaranteed money.
Forte talked to WMVP-AM 1000 about the franchise tag.
"It depends on the motive. If they are doing the franchise tag just to get more time in order to negotiate a long-term deal, then I would be OK with it. But, if it's just to hold me another year and just, 'Let's throw some money at home right now to keep him quiet,' that's not going to solve anything," Forte said.
On Tuesday, Bears CEO Ted Phillips called into Chicago Tribune Live to talk about Forte's status and mentioned that he isn't going to let him hit free agency:
Forte mentioned that his agent has spoken with new Bears GM Phil Emery and is hopeful a long-term deal gets done.
"I would expect a new GM to affect the talks positively. As we all know when Jerry was here we didn't get a deal done. He's not here anymore, but I would expect it to go positively because we have more time to negotiate a new deal. Hopefully if we don't reach a deal by the time the franchise tag has to be placed, if they do franchise me it's in order to get a deal done," Forte said.
Last season, Forte finished with 997 rushing yards, 490 receiving yards and four total touchdowns. His season was cut four games short after suffering a sprained right medial collateral ligament in the team's loss to Kansas City on Dec. 4.
NFL
Chicago has until Feb. 20 to make a decision on using the franchise tag on Forte.