The Bears matched the Packers’ offer sheet for Kyle Fuller late Friday, keeping the cornerback on a four-year deal with $18 million guaranteed.
The Bears kept Kyle Fuller away from their biggest rival, and on their roster for as long as another four years, by quickly matching the cornerback’s offer sheet from the Packers late Friday.
Fuller will receive a four-year deal worth $56 million, with $18 million guaranteed, sources confirmed.
The Packers signed Fuller to an offer sheet only because the Bears issued the transition tag, not the franchise tag, to their former first-round pick earlier this month. By using the little-used transition tag for the first time in 17 years, the Bears allowed Fuller to seek offers from other teams. The Bears had the right to match any offer, but would not have received compensation had they declined.
Had they paid him $14.975 million for the franchise tag, they would have been entitled to two first-round picks had Fuller left — a cost no other team would have been tempted to pay.
The Bears and Fuller disagreed on his price leading up to the transition tag deadline. Friday, then, represented precisely the purpose of the transition tag, which invited Fuller to find his market value. In need of a cornerback — and probably eager to force the hands of their rivals — the Packers signed Fuller to the offer sheet.
By matching, the Bears are keeping their starting cornerback tandem of Fuller and Prince Amukamara together. Amukamara signed a three-year deal earlier this week. The cornerback draft class is considered strong, particularly where the Bears will draft, at No. 8 overall.
Fuller missed all of the 2016 season after arthroscopic surgery. Before a bounce-back season in which he intercepted two passes and displayed a hard-hitting style that first intrigued then-GM Phil Emery, Pace declined his fifth-year option, rendering Fuller a free agent.
“Obviously, you guys know how we feel about Kyle,” he said. “We value Kyle. We like Kyle, and we just figured that was the best course of action.”
