Matt Forte was franchised by the Chicago Bears earlier this offseason and he has not been happy about it. Forte is refusing to sign the 7.7 million dollar tender as he’s looking for a deal worth 8.5 million or so per year over 4-5 years with about half guaranteed: a deal essentially on par with what LeSean McCoy, Chris Johnson, and Arian Foster have gotten in the last 2 seasons. He also took serious offense when the Bears signed Michael Bush to a long term deal, even though it was to be his backup.

The Bears are refusing to meet Forte’s demands, as they have been doing for over a year, since the old regime in the front office. According to the Chicago Tribune, the reason behind this is that they’re worried about his knees. This seems to be a bit of a strange belief as Forte hadn’t missed any games due to injury in his NFL career before last season when he went on IR with a sprained MCL. Forte did tear his PCL in college and sprain it again in 2009, a minor injury, but what running back or what NFL player in general has never had a knee injury?

The Bears obviously know better about Forte’s knees than I would, but I do think the story sounds peculiar. Forte’s agent had a different word for it, calling it “absurd,” pointing to the fact that I just brought up, that Forte hadn’t missed a game due to injury in his NFL career before last year. If the Bears are, in fact, worried about Forte’s knees, they won’t give him what he wants and that means this could be a long, drawn out, and messy hold out. It wouldn’t shock me if the Bears traded Forte before the season, as they did give Michael Bush, who has some starting experience, a good chunk of money this offseason. Also Kahlil Bell played decent down the stretch in place of an injured Forte last season.

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