[CBFF] [Fwd: Forte sticks out immediately in rookie minicamp]

[Tom Shannon]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Forte sticks out immediately in rookie minicamp
Date: 	Fri, 02 May 2008 22:34:55 GMT
From: 	<Brad Biggs>



If there’s been one person who has stood out in rookie minicamps over 
the last several seasons, it’s *Matt Forte*.

He looked the part Friday afternoon in the Walter Payton Center as the 
Bears assembled with 50 players on the field. Yes, 50. All 12 draft 
picks, 10 undrafted free agents and 28 players in town on a tryout basis 
were on the field. The big numbers allows the coaching staff to come as 
close as possible to simulating a real practice with players that have 
never set foot on an NFL field.

The running back from Tulane, drafted in the second round, stood out 
immediately.

``It felt good,’’ he said. ``Everybody's excited and they've got the 
adrenaline going so really what we came out here to do is get the 
playbook down right and go full speed when you know what you're doing.’’

Forte got his hands on his playbook Thursday when players gathered at 
Halas Hall for an orientation and jumped into it that night in his hotel 
room. His crash course paid off and he’s expected to push *Cedric 
Benson* immediately. Consider today Day 1 of that push.

``Guys come in they tell you they want you to start and they want you to 
do all this and create controversy and all that but I'm really just here 
to create competition in the backfield because competition is going to 
make each and every one of the running backs better,’’ Forte said. 
``We're here for the team, to make the whole team better.’’

We'll put together some more nuggets a little later on.


-- 
Life... is like a grapefruit. It's orange and squishy, and has a few pips in it, and some folks have half a one for breakfast.
  - Douglas Adams