Why the Packers shouldn’t sign Will Fuller in free agency
After being linked to Will Fuller before last season’s trade deadline, the Green Bay Packers have come up again as a potential landing spot for the soon-to-be free agent wide receiver.
When discussing the Packers’ free agency strategy, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky said that “one guy to keep an eye on is Will Fuller”. Demovsky notes that the Packers tried to trade for Fuller so it would make sense if they still had interest now.
Could Fuller help the Packers’ offense? No doubt. He’s a talented wide receiver.
Should the Packers sign Fuller in free agency? No. And for a number of reasons.
The first is his potential contract. Spotrac estimates that Fuller will earn around $16.9 million per year in free agency. That would put him in the top 10 for wide receiver salaries in the NFL and would take some clever salary cap work for the Packers to make it happen.
While it’s certainly possible Green Bay could afford to make that move, it would come at a cost. The team would almost certainly be unable to bring back Aaron Jones or Corey Linsley, or sign a free agent cornerback or defensive tackle.
Fuller would be the big free agency signing.
Based simply of talent, adding Fuller would be great news for Green Bay’s offense. When he’s on the field, of course.
Fuller would be unavailable for the Packers’ season opener due to suspension. He was suspended for six games last season. He’s already sat out of five games but will miss one more for his new team.
Unfortunately, Fuller also has a long injury history. He’s yet to complete a full 16-game regular season and has missed a total of 27 games over the past five years. Fuller has only been available for 66 percent of the Houston Texans’ regular season games since entering the league.
Fuller could be a game-changing number two wide receiver in the Packers’ offense, of that there is little doubt. But for the money Green Bay would have to pay, it would be a big risk. Not only would it likely cost them signing other free agents including Jones and Linsley, but Fuller’s injury history is also a major concern.