Bears match Packers’ offer for Kyle Fuller with 4-year, $56 million deal

CHICAGO — The Bears-Packers rivalry, usually at its best during the fall, got spicy in mid-March on Friday. The drama lasted about three hours. That is the amount of time it took the Chicago Bears to match an offer sheet Kyle Fuller signed with the Green Bay Packers, keeping the former first-round draft pick in place with what is now a long-term deal.

Fuller was at the center of a showdown between NFC North foes vying for his services. The Bears, who had until Wednesday to make a decision, made their intentions known quickly, matching what is a four-year contract with a maximum value of $56 million, though its guarantee hasn’t become known.

Talk about injecting some drama into free agency after the first wave with bigdollar signings slowed down 48 hours into the new league year. The Bears have been particularly active, signing seven players from the outside and re-signing five of their own free agents, and Fuller is the sixth to be re-signed.

The Bears placed the transition tag on Fuller, guaranteeing him $12.971 million this season but opening the possibility this very scenario could unfold in which they would be forced to agree to contract terms another team dictated or lose him without compensation.

General manager Ryan Pace could have avoided any risk if he had used the franchise tag at a price tag of $14.975 million with Fuller. No team would have signed Fuller to an offer sheet at that figure along with the stipulation that they fork over two first-round picks as compensation.

However, using the franchise tag would have made it more difficult for the Bears to achieve their ultimate goal of signing Fuller to a multiyear contract. Fuller, 26, and his agent Greg Barnett would have used the tag of nearly $15 million as a range for an annual average salary. It’s believed the transition tag number of nearly $13 million was going to be a guide for annual average salary on a multiyear deal with the Bears. Now the Bears wind up paying more than that, but at least they got the deal done. Two years ago they found out multiyear deals can be tough to hammer out with the franchise tag in play with Alshon Jeffrey.