Matt

Forte

Although Latavius Murray’s final rushing stats (266-1,066-6) look solid on paper, Murray mixed in long bouts of ineffectiveness and also seemed to fall into coach Jack Del Rio’s doghouse a few times. Caplan suggests the Raiders could make a run at free agent Matt Forte, who would almost certainly take over for Murray as Oakland’s starter. The Raiders are flush with cap space and could easily beat out most teams if Forte is looking to break the bank. The Raiders were major players in the 2015 DeMarco Murray “sweepstakes.”

If Barber can make it through a week of practice without a setback in his left calf, he’ll likely be active against the Saints Sunday. Barber’s main role will be goal-line and short-yardage situations, somewhere the Bears continued to struggle in Week 1 as they converted 1-of-3 red-zone chances.

Barber practiced in full on Friday, so he likely had a small setback during the last two days. He’s no more than a handcuff with Matt Forte the clear No. 1 back (and player for that matter) in Chicago.

He did reel in seven catches for 80 yards to “salvage” his day fantasy wise. Green Bay defensive coordinator Dom Capers was more than happy to dare Chicago to take to the air, stacking the box and effectively scheming Forte out of the game. When Chicago did keep the ball on the ground, Forte was afforded little to no running room, posting a long of just five yards. He was also unable to punch the ball in on second-and-goal, his lone carry from near the stripe. Forte should rebound in Week 4 against the Panthers, and now’s your opportunity to buy low from his disappointed and potentially irrational owner.

Given severe problems with his offensive line and lack of a true receiving threat, Forte owners have to be thrilled with this level of production. At the league minimum salary of $600,000, Forte should also be plenty motivated to keep it up. He has a tough matchup against the Vikings next week, but Forte is averaging an incredible 157 total yards per game and is locked in as an RB1.

Angelo has been firm in his stance that serious negotiations won’t take place during the season. “We did what I consider our very best. I know that they tried as well. We weren’t able to get it accomplished. He was our No. 1 priority,” Angelo said. Forte appears destined to play out the season on his $600,000 base salary. He’s currently averaging 157.0 yards from scrimmage per game, tops in the league.

This sounds like a negotiating ploy by Forte’s camp. There’s no way the Bears are going to trade their best offensive player ahead of today’s deadline, but this is another way to highlight how underpaid Forte is. “I’m glad teams are interested,” Forte said. “For me to be out here working as hard as I do and not have a contract extension, you kind of get that feeling of being unappreciated.” At this point, it would make sense for the Bears to just pay the man.

“My glass is always half-full,” Smith said. "... Matt Forte hasn’t missed anything that we’ve had here. I think it’s a little bit early. This is the offseason, and these things go on in the offseason.” The Bears have a contract offer on the table to Forte. He would have signed it by now if it met his asking price.

The Forte tag caps off a day chock full of them. Players franchised so far: WR DeSean Jackson, DE Calais Campbell, RBs Forte and Ray Rice, DBs Brent Grimes, Dashon Goldson, and Tyvon Branch, TE Fred Davis, and Ks Mike Nugent and Phil Dawson. Long-term contract talks between the Bears and Forte seemingly never got serious after Chicago hired new GM Phil Emery on January 28. Don’t look for the Bears to prioritize locking up Forte anytime soon.

Drew Brees, Matt Forte, Ray Rice, and Wes Welker are also expected to sit out. According to NFL Network’s Jason LaCanfora, it would take an “unforeseen degree of progress in talks over the weekend” to get any of them signed to long-term deals in time for OTAs. Tyvon Branch and Josh Scobee of the Raiders and Jaguars respectively, have already skipped their new coaches’ workouts begun last week.