Green Bay Packers GM Brian Gutekunst is not Ted Thompson. He's made that abundantly clear in his first off-season. One huge difference is his lack of subtlety when it comes to taking shots at certain players or coaches the
Chicago Bears have their eye on. He tried to swipe defensive coordinator Vic Fangio for the Packers defensive coordinator position. He almost signed Allen Robinson away in free agency. Last but not least, he made an aggressive offer to cornerback Kyle Fuller.
That last one was by far the most obvious attempt by Green Bay to weaken Chicago. Fuller was one of their best defenders in 2017. He finished as one of their leading tacklers, intercepted two passes and defended 22 others. It was a breakout season for the former first round pick. This after missing all of 2016 with a knee injury.
GM Ryan Pace knew he couldn't let a player of that caliber walk for nothing. At the same time, he didn't want to complicate matters by using the franchise tag. So he took a calculated risk by placing the transition tag on Fuller instead. This opened the door for Gutekunst to make a move, and he did everything in his power to make it happen.
Packers GM admits they structured Fuller deal to stop Bears from matching
The key in this sort of situation depends both on the amount of money offered and the structure of the contract. Football business gurus might call such a deal a "poison pill." In essence, they actively try to find a way to make the other team unwilling to match the offer. Gutekunst explained how the Packers went about doing that to the Bears.
It's really not a surprise the Packers tried this. Their own cornerback situation has gotten worse over the past couple seasons. Green Bay ranked a distant 23rd against the pass in 2017. They just traded their best performer in Damarious Randall to Cleveland. He had four interceptions last season. It's hard to figure out what this team is trying to accomplish at that position but then again they've mismanaged that defense for some time now.
Fuller would've instantly become the best cornerback on that roster by a comfortable margin. So one can't blame Green Bay for making an effort to get him, but they should've tried harder than that. This means they likely have to take a corner high in the draft for the second-straight year. Not exactly ideal for a team that knows their Super Bowl window is closing.
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