When the Broncos signed free agent cornerback Kyle Fuller to a one-year, $9.5 million contract in March, it looked like a perfect pairing: Fuller had developed into a Pro Bowler in Chicago when Broncos coach Vic Fangio was the Bears’ defensive coordinator, and now he’s reuniting with Fangio in Denver.
It hasn’t worked out. At all.
In Thursday night’s loss to the Browns, Fuller didn’t see the field. He and backup quarterback Drew Lock were the only players on the Broncos’ active roster who didn’t get in the game.
Last week, Fuller played only two snaps in the Broncos’ loss to the Raiders. That was the fewest snaps played by anyone on the Broncos’ defense in that game.
Fuller was not listed on the injury report for either game, so this isn’t a matter of him not being healthy enough to play. The Broncos just don’t think he’s good enough to play.
That’s a significant departure from the start of the season: Fuller started the first five games of the season and played at least 90 percent of the defensive snaps in all five of them. But after the Broncos’ loss to the Steelers in Week Five, Fangio expressed frustration with how poorly Fuller had played, and since then Fuller has barely played at all.
There’s been some talk out of Denver that the Broncos could trade Fuller, but realistically, why would any team want to trade for him at this point? If he’s not good enough to get any playing time in Denver, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for his ability to contribute elsewhere.
And so Fuller appears set to remain on the Broncos’ bench, and remain one of this year’s most disappointing free agent signings.