NEWSLETTER
Now that the NFL calendar is starting to settle, it’s time we give Jaylon Johnson some love.
The Chicago Bears cornerback earned second-team All-Pro honors on Friday. And while I want to quibble about a snub, I don’t want to go too far down that rabbit hole. Mostly because Johnson deserves some limelight without it being rooted in discussion about voting snubs. To be brief, sometimes an airing of grievances can cause us to lose perspective on a player’s accomplishments. So, let’s not do that to its fullest extent.
Should Jaylon Johnson have gotten first-team All-Pro recognition? Probably. But that he didn’t get the nod doesn’t diminish his accomplishments from this past season. Among those accomplishments are the highest honors Pro Football Focus can hand to a player:
CHECK IT OUT: Jaylon Johnson is heading to the Pro Bowl
Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson was The Man at cornerback this season and we should take some time to acknowledge him.
Was Johnson worthy of first-team All-Pro honors? Yes. It annoys me that (once again) a Bears player worthy of All-Pro honors didn’t get it. We saw it with Roquan Smith at linebacker, only to see him get that first-team All-Pro recognition immediately after leaving the Bears. It’s almost as if the team he played for kept voters from doing the right thing. And if that’s the case, that’s a shame.
Jaylon Johnson was the world’s best cornerback in 2023
If you were a Bears fan who was curious about how Jaylon Johnson would answer the challenge of playing in a contract year without an extension, then you might be happy with the results.
Johnson was Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded corner with a 90.8 grade. Johnson and Dallas Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland were the only two players in that position group to earn season-long grades of 90 or better this past season. That is elite stuff to me. Johnson, who came away with a career-best four interceptions this year, also earned PFF’s top coverage grade among cornerbacks in 2023. Only Johnson (91.0) and New York Jets corner Sauce Gardner (90.8) snagged coverage grades of 90 or better from Pro Football Focus for their efforts this year. Again, this is elite company that Jaylon Johnson found himself in this season. And I don’t want to just skate past it with a mere mention just because he didn’t make first-team All-Pro. No. 33 deserves his flowers.
As for what this could mean for a potential contract extension, I think this tweet sums it up well:
In the end, we’ll be keeping tabs on Jaylon Johnson extension watch. The NFL season is over (well, it is for the Bears!) and there figures to be a cooling-off period. Once things settle down, I expect the two sides to chop it up and iron out a deal. As far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better. GM Ryan Poles probably cost himself a few million in cap space by waiting it out this long.
