Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune writes that with the Bears making it clear that CB Kyle Fuller is unlikely to play at all this season, it’s possible he could be placed on the trade block in the coming months.
In fact, Biggs mentions that a late-round pick could be enough for Chicago to move on from Fuller next year.
While the Bears used their designation to return on Fuller back in November, it appears unlikely that they’ll activate him before Wednesday’s deadline. Bears DC Vic Fangio indicated that Fuller hasn’t been pushing to get back on the field, which leaves him almost no shot of playing this season.
“Any time a guy’s hurt, there’s three stages to getting back to the field,” Fangio said. “One is you’ve got to get medical clearance. Two, the player’s got to say he’s ready to go and feels confident and he’s champing at the bit to go play. And then the coaches get involved and see if he’s better than what the other choices are and if he really is back to being able to play. A has happened. B hasn’t. So C is a non-issue.”
Biggs points out that the Browns traded CB Justin Gilbert, who was the only cornerback drafted ahead of Fuller, for a 2018 sixth-round pick, and Fuller will have missed the entire season, so it’s hard to say he would command much more than that in a potential trade.
Fuller underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee this summer and the expectation was that he would miss several weeks. However, the Bears ultimately expected to place him on injured reserve a few weeks into the regular season.
Fuller, 24, is a former first-round pick of the Bears back in 2014. He’s currently in the third year of his four-year, $9,687,002 contract and set to make a base salary of $1,740,954 for the 2017 season.
The Bears will need to decide whether to pick up his fifth-year option during the offseason.
In 2015, Fuller appeared in all 16 games for the Bears and recorded 55 tackles, two interceptions and nine pass defenses. Pro Football Focus had him rated as the No. 37 cornerback out of 111 qualifying player
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