Broncos free agency: Kyle Fuller signing makes secondary elite
The Denver Broncos have continued reshaping and investing in their secondary, signing former Chicago Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller shortly after it was announced he’d hit the transaction wire.
The #Broncos have agreed to terms with two-time Pro Bowl CB Kyle Fuller on a one-year, $9.5 million deal, including $9M fully guaranteed, per source. They swooped in quickly after the #Bears released Fuller, who now reunites with Vic Fangio in Denver.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 20, 2021
After signing Ronald Darby to a three-year contract, the Denver Broncos’ projected starting secondary could look something like this:
- CB1: Ronald Darby
- CB2: Kyle Fuller
- NCB: Bryce Callahan
- S: Justin Simmons
- S: Michael Ojemudia (nothing official here)
Although there’s nothing official with Michael Ojemudia making a position switch to safety, it was something a lot of people thought he could do going into the 2020 NFL Draft process and the Broncos could revisit it now.
For the time being, it’s all about Kyle Fuller being added to the group. This is an absolutely massive move by new GM George Paton bringing in a former Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection who has 82 career pass breakups and 19 career interceptions, including a career-high seven picks back in the 2018 season, Vic Fangio’s final season as defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears.
It was Fuller’s familiarity with Fangio that ultimately paved the way for the former first-round pick out of Virginia Tech to come to the Broncos.
The one-year contract at $9.5 million is both player-friendly and team-friendly, but the Broncos aren’t going to scoff at the opportunity to bring in a player of this caliber just because of the way the market is right now.
The 2021 free agent market has been very team-friendly up to this point, but Paton has been very fair with the deals they’ve struck with players like Darby ($10 million per season), Shelby Harris ($9 million per season), and Justin Simmons ($15.25 million per season).
Now the Broncos have brought in Fuller after struggling the past couple of seasons to create turnovers defensively. There have been predictions all offseason about the Broncos bringing in a different former Virginia Tech cornerback — 2021 NFL Draft prospect Caleb Farley.
With the additions of both Fuller and Darby, the Broncos’ need for a cornerback early in the 2021 NFL Draft is significantly diminished.
At this point, the idea of a quarterback in the first round seems more likely certainly than it did going into the free agency period.
Regardless of what moves the team makes to follow this one up, the Denver secondary now looks absolutely elite with Fuller and Darby bringing more than 80 pass breakups from their previous stops in the league and Simmons returning on a big contract.
If Bryce Callahan can stay healthy, it could be argued no team in the NFL has a better cornerback trio than the Broncos.
Vic Fangio’s defense was already very good with most of the star players in it struggling through injuries.
If this unit can stay at full strength, they are going to be tough to throw on.