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Kyle Fuller

Bears Officially Match Packers’ Offer Sheet For Kyle Fuller

March 20th, 2018 at 4:48pm CST by Zachary Links

Kyle Fuller is staying put. The Bears announced that they have matched the Packers’ offer sheet for the cornerback. The contract is a four-year deal worth $56MM with $18MM in guaranteed money, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported.

“We could not be happier to have Kyle under contract for four more years,” Bears GM Ryan Pace said in a press release. “We feel he is an ascending player on our top 10 defense and we look forward to him having many more productive seasons here in Chicago.”

Instead of using the franchise tag, the Bears opted to use the less frequently used transition tag on Fuller this offseason. The transition tag for cornerbacks was worth just $12.9MM this year, versus the nearly $15MM franchise tag. On the flipside, that move only gave them the first right of refusal without granting them any draft compensation in the event of an unmatched offer sheet.

The Packers did not manage to steal Fuller away from their rivals, but they did jack up the price. Fuller reportedly turned down another offer sheet before signing one with Green Bay.

Fuller is now the sixth bears free agent to be retained by the Bears in free agency, joining outside linebacker Sam Acho, cornerback Prince Amukamara, offensive lineman Bradley Sowell, tight end Daniel Brown and punter Patrick O’Donnell. They have also tendered receivers Cameron Meredith and Joshua Bellamy and cornerback Bryce Callahan. Meredith may not be a done deal, however, as he is on a visit with the Colts.

Bears Match Packers Offer Sheet For Kyle Fuller

March 16th, 2018 at 6:47pm CST by Micah Powell

The Bears had five days to match Green Bay’s offer sheet to cornerback Kyle Fuller but it only needed a few hours. NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets Chicago has matched the offer to keep Fuller in the “Windy City.” 

The contract is a four-year deal worth $56MM with $18MM in guaranteed money. As Rapoport notes, Fuller had already been guaranteed $13MM after the Bears placed the transition tag on him. It only made sense for the Bears to splurge the extra $5MM to keep him with the team and away from its division rival.

Pro Football Talk reports the deal includes a $1MM base salary in 2018, $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses and a $500,000 workout bonus.

Fuller enjoyed a breakout year in 2017, amassing 68 tackles and ranking as PFF’s No. 22 ranked cornerback. That was in stark contrast, however, to his previous three seasons. The former No. 14 overall selection did well as a rookie in 2014 and followed that up with a decent showing in 2015, but his entire 2016 campaign was lost due to a knee injury. The Bears had the option of keeping Fuller under the fifth-year option for just $8.526MM. In hindsight, it’s a move they regret.

With the move, the team is betting on the 2017 version of Fuller being the new norm. With a team undergoing as much offseason change as Chicago, having a little bit of stability and familiarity in the secondary is sure to help the transition.

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