Chicago Bears: Ideal moves in 2018 free agency and draft

Re-sign Kyle Fuller, sign Trumaine Johnson

Aside from wide receiver, one of the other main positions of need for the Chicago Bears is cornerback. And with Fuller, their best corner from last year, still officially unsigned and no one else in the pipeline, things are looking a little nerve-wracking right now.

Also, I’m not looking at Pace’s inability to get Richard Sherman as a big deal. The Bay Area is home for him. Hard for a West Coast guy to pass that up.

That said, Pace needs to lock down Fuller and throw the rest of the big money he has in free agency at Trumaine Johnson.

Clearly, the Chicago Bears believe they’ll agree to terms with Fuller, otherwise they would’ve used the franchise tag versus the transition tag. While the transition tag is cheaper, they forfeit the chance of compensation if Fuller walks. As such, they must be confident that they can give him what he needs.

Four years at $11-12 million a year (around $30 million guaranteed) should probably bring Fuller back.

https://twitter.com/PFF/status/970271663098122240

Johnson, of course, will require a bit more cash.

He played on a $16.7 million franchise tag last year, which will hurt the Bears’ pockets a bit at the negotiating table. Johnson obviously won’t want to take a massive pay cut from that.

Then again, if the Bears could reach an average annual salary agreement between last year’s tag and the one he played under in 2016 ($13.9 million), that’s going to be hard to turn down. And, of course, the guaranteed money will be the kicker in any deal, though we have to see how long they’d offer him for.

With Johnson being 28 years old, a three-year, ~$45 million deal ($30+ million guaranteed) could work. Then, they could possibly move on from him in Year 3 if they had a young corner in the works that they liked.

If they don’t get Johnson, they might consider drafting a corner in the first round. And while they wouldn’t be terrible, I don’t think I’m feeling a corner at No. 8 overall.

That brings me to my next point, though…