A tighter salary cap than usual means the Bears and general manager Ryan Pace have to make tough financial decisions during this free agency period. The first major hit came on Thursday, as Chicago has officially released Kyle Fuller, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
The 29-year-old Fuller was set to have a $20 million cap hit in the 2021 season. Even with recent major restructures for other players, the Bears were still (somehow) in no position to keep Fuller on his current contract. Speculation was abound that Akiem Hicks would instead be a casualty, or someone surrendered in a mega-trade (cough).