Chicago Bears: Grading every free agency move by Ryan Pace
By Ryan Heckman
Re-signing Kyle Fuller and Prince Amukamara might be the most underrated re-signings in all of the NFL.
Kyle Fuller
The Bears had a situation on their hands at the beginning of free agency. Sure, they needed help at receiver and a multitude of other positions. But, ensuring Fuller stayed in Chicago was a top priority.
Pace played this better than anyone could have imagined. Instead of placing the franchise tag on Fuller and having to pay him top dollar, he used the transition. tag to allow other teams to set the market.
Once Green Bay made an offer — which was less annually than the franchise tag would have paid Fuller — Pace made his move, matched the offer and the case was closed.
Fuller played lights out in his contract year. Everybody knows by now how much more aggressive he was and how when he was picked on, he made sure to let the quarterbacks know that they were picking on a new-and-improved version of himself.
Pace gets a high mark for this one, without a doubt.
Grade: A+
Prince Amukamara
Pace could have offered a ton of money in attempting to bring in guys like Trumaine Johnson or Malcom Butler, but instead he retained Fuller and made a much more cost-effective decision to bring back Amukamara.
He isn’t an upper-tier name, but Amukamara actually played very well for the Bears and, after tours with both the Jaguars and Giants, he may have found a long-term home in Chicago. Under Fangio, everybody seems to be at their best, eventually. For Amukamara, this has unequivocally been on display.
Per Pro Football Focus, one of Amukamara’s strengths was his ability to lock down his man especially in the fourth quarter. He was one of the top guys in all of football when it came to doing so. For the Bears, that should be enough reason in and of itself to know they needed him back.