The New York Jets have found their backfield replacement for Chris Ivory.
The team will sign former Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte, NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reports, via a source informed of the deal.
Forte was also reported to be drawing interest from the Green Bay Packers and Miami Dolphins.
The 30-year-old back told NFL Network's Super Bowl Live last month that playing for a contender is more important than breaking the bank in his last shot at big contract. The Jets are a team built to win now, falling just shy of postseason contention last season.
Since he entered the NFL out of Tulane in 2008, no player has tallied more yards from scrimmage than Forte's 12,718. LaDainian Tomlinson, Ricky Watters and Hall of Famers Curtis Martin and Barry Sanders are the only other players to total at least 1,200 yards from scrimmage in each of their first eight seasons.
Although he missed three games with an MCL sprain in second half of last season, we saw nothing on game film that would suggest he has lost a step. Prior to the injury, the workhorse had accounted for 32 percent of the Bears' 2015 offense.
As one of the most productive dual-threat backfield weapons of the past decade, Forte will essentially act as the No. 3 option in an aerial attack that lacks a proven pass-catching tight end.
General manager Mike Maccagnan did well to land a multi-dimensional player for offensive coordinator Chan Gailey to utilize in the ground attack as well as a reliable receiver in a passing game that often features spread formations.
