Kyle Fuller was formerly the 14th-overall pick of the Chicago Bears in the 2014 NFL Draft. He was actually one of the six players the Philadelphia Eagles targeted in that draft before things went sideways for them and they ultimately settled on Marcus Smith.
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Many have suggested Fuller as a potential Eagles trade target because of their obviously troubling cornerback depth.
This offseason, the Bears signed two new corners in free agency in Prince Amukamara and Marcus Cooper. Amukamara signed a one-year, $7 million deal, while Cooper signed a three-year deal worth $16 million ($8 million guaranteed). That’s starter money in both cases.
In 2016, Fuller missed the entire season after having arthroscopic surgery in August. A couple weeks ago, the Bears declined Fuller’s fifth-year option, which means that he’ll be an unrestricted free agent after the 2017 season. There’s a thinking among Bears observers that Fuller may not even make Chicago’s roster this season.
If the Bears were to cut Fuller outright, he would count for $3,082,227 in dead money on their 2017 cap, with no savings. If they were to trade him, they would have $1,341,273 in dead money, with a savings of $1,740,954. In other words, the Bears would be better served to trade Fuller for literally anything just to get the roughly $1.7 million in savings in cap space.
As for who the Bears might have interest in on the Eagles’ roster, many Eagles observers have suggested linebacker Mychal Kendricks, seeing as he has been on the trading block all offseason, and is a bad scheme fit in Jim Schwartz's defense. But would the Bears have interest?
The Bears’ starting inside linebackers are Jerrell Freeman and Danny Trevathan. There’s not a lot of name recognition there, but they are a decent pair of starting inside linebackers. Trevathan suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in November last season, so the Bears should rightfully have concerns that he (A) may not be ready for the start of the 2017 season, and (B) may not be the same player whenever he returns to action.
On Monday, the Bears signed 31-year-old veteran Dan Skuta, who has experience playing inside and outside in a 3-4, which led some Bears reporters to take that as a sign that he would be insurance for Trevathan if indeed his recovery timetable is unfavorable.
The Bears also have Nick Kwiatkowski, who was a fourth-round draft pick in 2016, and Christian Jones, a 2014 undrafted free agent who has started 20 games in Chicago, and who just signed a one-year contract extension in March.
A surplus of inside linebackers in a 3-4 defense is ideal, but would Kendricks be worth adding $4,850,000 to the Bears' books when they already have depth at the position?
As a reserve? No. That's exactly why he's on the trading block in the first place, right? But as a starter? Maybe.
Kendricks is probably a better option for the Bears to start at ILB than Skuta or Kwiatkowski, but obviously, that would all depend on Trevathan's recovery.
Got all that? OK, good. Moving on to the Eagles...
From the Eagles’ perspective, it has been reported by Jeff McLane of the Inquirer that the Eagles were (at one time, anyway) looking for at least a fifth-round pick for Kendricks. Fuller’s value is not equal to a fifth-round pick at this point, although as noted above, the Eagles rated him highly coming out of college.
In my view, the only way this deal could possibly get done is if (A) the Bears value Kendricks enough to take on his $4.85 million in salary cap, (B) the Bears are not optimistic that Trevathan can be a factor this season, and (C) the Eagles' former affinity for Fuller trumps his present-day value, and/or they lower their asking price for Kendricks.
Is all of that likely? Meh. The Bears seem ready to move on from Fuller, and the Eagles are clearly ready to move on from Kendricks. On the surface, this deal makes a lot of sense, but it's not without its obstacles.
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