Categories: Kansas City ChiefsPaul Pulley

Chiefs Free Agent Focus: CB Kyle Fuller

Chiefs Free Agent Focus: CB Kyle Fuller

By Paul Pulley

After the QB Alex Smith (potential) trade to the Washington Redskins that Kansas City Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach orchestrated last month, I didn’t think that trying to find a potential cornerback in Free Agency was still necessary. With an announcement of the trade of CB Marcus Peters to the Los Angeles Rams, it appears that not only does GM Veach giveth… but he also taketh away. Finding a replacement for Peters will be difficult, because let’s face it, Peters has his faults but as far as ballhawking skills and even ball tracking skills, Marcus Peters may not have an equal. However, it seems that his attitude and apparently his eagerness to NOT be in Kansas City has prompted Veach to go in other directions.

Finding a Free Agent Cornerback

Two years ago I was hoping that the Chiefs would be able to sign Trumaine Johnson of the St. Louis Rams at the end of his rookie contract, but the Rams elected to apply the franchise tag to Johnson and that eliminated that possibility. Now, two years later, after playing two consecutive years on the tag, Johnson is a free agent as the Los Angeles Rams have decided to upgrade his CB slot with Marcus Peters.

I have no idea why the Rams were not able to sign Johnson to a long term deal. It could be that Johnson wants to be the highest paid corner in the NFL, or that he has a specific destination in mind of where he wants to continue his career. However, his continued lack of commitment has caused me to turn my attention elsewhere.

Which brings me to Kyle Fuller. Fuller measured 6-foot-0 and weighed 190 at the NFL Combine in 2014. He ran the 40 yard dash in 4.49, the 20 yard shuttle in 4.19 and had a 128 inch broad jump. Some of the analysis says that Fuller “plays faster than his time thanks to keen instincts, anticipation and route recognition”. It also states that he is a “willing run supporter” and a “team captain who understands what it means to be a pro”. Fuller had arthroscopic knee surgery in 2016 and missed the entire 2016 season. I am unsure of why the Chicago Bears, the team that drafted Fuller in the 1st round in 2014, chose not to exercise his 5th year option, unless they felt insecure about his knee.

Comparing Stats of Some 2018 FA CBs

Here is a comparison of the career stats of several free agent cornerbacks. The players on this list were obtained from the free agent CB listing at overthecap.com.

Stats are from NFL.com
Marcus Peters is not a free agent, but his stats were included for comparison.
Kyle Fuller and E. J. Gaines stats were compiled over three seasons as both players missed a complete season due to injury.
Looking over these numbers, I tried to find a good combination of youth and ability and therefore turned my attention to Kyle Fuller. The question now becomes, can the Chiefs afford a top free agent CB.

A Look At The Top CBs Contracts

Contract numbers obtained from spotrac.com

As you can see good corners are going to be expensive, but as we have seen the last two seasons, a good defense has to have at least two good corners. Also, as has been shown, Kyle Fuller, statistically speaking, is as good as any of these guys. With the salary cap increasing every year and teams having to spend a high percentage of it on player contracts, plus with roster numbers remaining static, teams are almost forced to pay higher salaries each year for the same type player.

I believe to sign Kyle Fuller we will need to offer a contract in the Bouye/Gilmore range.

I would propose a 5 year deal for $67.5M, with a signing bonus of $17.5M and guarantees of $38M. A contract could look something like this:

This contract structure would allow us an easy out after three years, and if those year 4 and 5 cap hits look awful, the salary cap could easily be $210M-$220M by then.

Let’s review the free agent moves suggested to date:

GM Veach has allowed to let ILB Derrick Johnson’s contract to void and has cut CB Darrelle Revis. Veach has also orchestrated trades to move on from QB Alex Smith and CB Marcus Peters.
I believe moving on from Revis and DJ were required to bring the salary cap to even. Trading Smith and Peters will result in about $18.7M in cap space.
If you recall, in my scenario, I cut OLB Tamba Hali, DE Allen Bailey, and rescinded OLB Dee Fords 5th year option, creating an additional $22.3M of cap space bringing the total cap space to work with in 2018 to approximately $41M.

The free agent signings I have recommended in my world of playing armchair GM are as follows:

This shows the cap hit per year in my fantasy GM role.

Note: with Muhammed Wilkerson not yet a Free Agent, I’m projecting that the Jets will release him some time this offseason.
So, in my fantasy GM signings, both Wilkerson and Murphy were signed to 4 year contracts, while both Williamson and Fuller received 5 year deals.
A cap hit of $24M in 2018 for these four players would still leave roughly $17M in cap space to sign draftees and fill out the roster without making any more cuts.

Why the Chiefs Need Free Agents

Teams that draft poorly are compelled to attack Free Agency aggressively… if they want to be competitive. With the recent moves by Veach, the list of starting caliber defensive players drafted by the Chiefs in the past five years includes DE Chris Jones and… maybe CB Steven Nelson. Even adding CB Marcus Peters to this list, it isn’t hard to see why our defense has been regressing.

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