Or the opposite. They could be doing him a favor to go elsewhere and not try to trade him for garbage scraps. At least he gets to go where he wants presumably.
If you let the player and agent know they will be available before free agency starts then they can start negotiating with teams who would like to sign the player while they still have cap space.
Look at all the cornerbacks that have been signed. You gotta imagine Fuller would get at least whatever those guys got, so if his deal comes in lower that essentially means he missed a part of the market while the Bears were trying to trade him.
If I'm trying to put blame on Pace he fucked up in one of 3 ways:
1 - Took too long to give Seattle his 'best deal'.
2 - Let Seattle sit on his 'best deal' for too long.
3 - A combination of 1 and 2.
Overall the Bears are coming across so desperate. It wouldn't surprise me if they try to swoop in for Watson knowing all the legal trouble that's making his future unknown.