“A lot of it is media speculation, just like in the offseason they were like ‘the Bears could trade Matt.’ Everybody was talking about me getting traded then and it didn’t happen”.
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What the Chicago Bears did this week was not the beginning of a fire sale. NumberFire, a data analysis site, figured Forte would be a good fit for one of three teams-Broncos, Ravens or Jets. Still, La Canfora and Rapoport say the belief around the National Football League is that the Bears would be willing to listen. Rookie general manager Ryan Pace already dealt two players last week – taking a financial hit in a move that sent aging pass-rusher Jared Allen to Carolina and Jon Bostic, a 2013 second-round pick by former Bears general manager Phil Emery, to the Patriots. Sources said to La Canfora that the team is not going “to give him away” and there has “to be value” in the deal.
Forte, who turns 30 next season and is in the final year of his contract, is one of the few remaining tradable commodities on a roster in disrepair.
According to Jeff Dickerson at ESPN, the Bears are hoping that Alshon Jeffery can return for Week 5, but his status remains up in the air.
My collegue here at TitanSized Will Lomas put up an article last week, Tennessee Titans should trade for Matt Forte, and I thought it was time to re-visit the subject during our bye week and put in my 2 cents worth. He’s also slated to become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. So far this year, Forte has accumulated 345 yards from scrimmage. Forte’s contract is up after this season and there hasn’t been much sign that the Bears are clamoring to bring him back in 2016, which made it easy to speculate that a backfield-needy team might make a run at bringing him to their offense. On the flip side, a team that is going all in for the season and believes Forte is the missing piece to a championship might trade something of value to the Bears.
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Check here for more on the potential for the Bears trading Forte, Alshon Jeffery’s status and more on the Bears into Week 5.
