Although the Bears are coming off a three-win season and changed regimes in 2022, members of their 2020 draft class may be on the extension radar. Cole Kmet and Darnell Mooney figure to warrant conversations about second Chicago contracts. Jaylon Johnson would like to join that conversation as well.
A starting cornerback throughout his Bears tenure, the former second-round pick said he is “100%” targeting a deal that will allow him to stay in the Windy City. Johnson, Kmet and Mooney each became eligible to sign an extension in January. Since none of the trio entered the NFL as first-rounders, with the Bears not having a 2020 first due to the Khalil Mack trade, the fifth-year option was not in Chicago’s equation this offseason.
Johnson, 24, said he plans to hire an agent to handle these talks soon, per the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs, who adds the Utah product is not pushing for a new deal before training camp. (Mooney hired a new agent this offseason as well.) The Bears punted on a Roquan Smith extension last year, but the team’s Ryan Poles-led front office would not need to consider a top-market contract for any of its newly extension-eligible cogs.
Being charged with five touchdown passes allowed in each of his first two seasons, Johnson cut that number down to one last year. Then again, the Bears did not play with many leads during a 3-14 season, and Johnson was targeted just 51 times — down from 70-plus during the 2020 and ’21 seasons. Pro Football Focus viewed Johnson as a mid-pack cornerback last year, slotting him just outside the top 65 at the position. Pro-Football-Reference’s coverage metrics measured Johnson similarly, though those did credit the 6-foot defender with the lowest passer rating-against figure of his career (94.6).
The Bears do not have much in the way of long-term commitments on their books. They picked up the Panthers’ D.J. Moore contract via trade and signed Tremaine Edmunds and Nate Davis to big-ticket free agency deals. As far as homegrown players, Eddie Jackson represents the only notable defender extension on Chicago’s payroll. Cody Whitehair sits as the team’s lone in-house extension of note on offense. The Bears lead the NFL in cap space presently, with more than $32MM, and are projected to hold more than $96MM in 2024.
At corner, however, Chicago has used second-round picks on Kyler Gordon and Tyrique Stevenson, potentially opening the door to the team being patient regarding a Johnson payment. But the clock is ticking. While players like Justin Fields and Teven Jenkins figure to be on the Bears’ extension radar down the road, the team will need to decide on its 2020 draftees’ futures soon.
The Bears will only be able to contend this year if two things happen. First there would have to be minimal injuries to key guys. And two, Robinson and Gipson will have to make HUGE strides forward as pass rushers if they don’t make a trade. Otherwise next year things should fall into place nicely with 96 million in cap space and 2 first round picks and 2 fourth rounders plus their other picks to fill in the blanks. Poles has made the tough calls, Now he gets to fill in the blanks and he seems committed to just obtaining players that he and Eberflus deem to be their kind of guys and not wavering at all. He’s not trying to put square pegs in round holes like Pace always tried to do. He has a plan, And he’s sticking to it. I give him his props.
Let’s see if Fields can throw the ball, and Eberflus can be a real HC before talking about the Bears and contenders.
Neither one of those things will be an issue.
How do you know? Neither has established anything in their positions.
The Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox aren’t contenders so why would the Bears want to buck that trend?
Just mentioned 2 things that would have to happen for them to have a shot. I’m not worried about Fields or Eberflus. Just curious to see if they address the pass rush before the season. I’d say Hunter might be a perfect fit but I don’t know what they think. Obviously the available guys either overpriced themselves or aren’t their type. Then there’s the problem of Minnesota being in their division. They might not want him going there.
A new regime drafting 6 DBs in 2 years is not a good sign for a player looking for an extension.
I’ve never been overly impressed with Johnson as some other people seem to be. I mean he’s OK, But he’s far from a shut down corner. Granted he hasn’t had much of a pass rush to help him out and that doesn’t seem to changing much this year yet. The Bears are saying all the right things but I see Johnson the way PFF seems to, Middle of the pack. Depending on how much HE thinks he’s worth, I could see Poles walking away.
Kinda hard to judge your secondary accurately when there is literally almost no pass rush.
It might actually be harder to judge a secondary when their deficiencies are masked by a fierce pass rush.
I think at first blush the Bears have a bad secondary, however when you take into account that the opposing QB typically had about 4-5 seconds on average (and usually more) to make a pass, I would say with any sort of decent pass rush the Secondary is alright. However, since Poles and company still really have not done enough to fix the DE position this may be another long year, especially if they are relying on Gipson and Robinson to vastly improve after a mediocre season for both (and yes I get that was not really Robinson’s #1 position until with the Bears)