NEWSLETTER
It’s been all quiet on the extension front for the Bears since opening the vault to pay and extend tight end Cole Kmet in late July. And yet, there are still a handful of Bears players who could follow in Kmet’s footsteps and get a new deal of their own. One of them is cornerback Jaylon Johnson. To be clear, there doesn’t seem to be anything imminent. But Johnson left the door open to cutting a deal before Sunday’s opener against the Green Bay Packers:
Will the Bears get a Jaylon Johnson extension done?
I’m going to take this morsel of information, lean into it, and view it as a positive. Not only does Jaylon Johnson want to stick around, but he is keeping his options open to when an extension can get done. Good on Johnson for staying open to taking different paths on the road to a potential extension.
Under the previous regime, we’d see extensions get done right before Week 1 kicked off. New deals for players like Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman, and Cody Whitehair come to mind. And for what it’s worth, that front office also got an in-season extension done with Tarik Cohen. Obviously, Ryan Poles is *NOT* Ryan Pace — and thank goodness for that. With that being said, I’m offering up those extension examples not as a 1-for-1 comparison, but instead as a reminder that things can get done before and after the start of the season. There’s no need to set a hard deadline if that isn’t something you want.
If it feels like we’ve been discussing a Johnson extension for a while, that’s because we have. And for what it’s worth, Johnson has been very open about landing a new deal to stay with the Bears. Johnson even got new representation this summer, which added another level of seriousness to Johnson’s desire to get a deal done. It is wild to think about how we began exploring the possibility last December. Heck, we even came up with some comparable deals. Figuring out what the hold-up is on an extension is a fool’s errand, but it shouldn’t be that difficult.
I hope that Johnson and the Bears can strike a deal because the rising fourth-year cornerback checks a whole bunch of boxes. On the field, Johnson has been a solid corner and a building block for this defense. As a bonus, having Johnson around to help rookie Tyrique Stevenson and second-year corner Kyler Gordon grow as a unit would be a welcome sight. Off the field, Johnson has grown into a leadership role. His most notable accolade might be earning the Bears’ Walter Payton Man of the Year nod for 2022. But Johnson also picked up honorary captain’s status and was public in going to bat for his teammates. The on-the-field excellence and locker-room leadership is the kind of combination I’d want in a player who wants an extension.
And, yes, there *ARE* some durability concerns. Johnson has yet to play a full season without missing time due to injuries. But whenever Johnson is healthy, he has been productive. Don’t get me wrong. Durability concerns are to be taken seriously when it comes to extension considerations. As John Fox taught us, sometimes the best ability is availability. However, I don’t think Johnson’s injury issues should be a deal-breaker for the Bears. Especially with how they’ve been aggressively drafting cornerbacks under the Ryan Poles regime.
In the end, I just like that Johnson isn’t taking a hard-lined approach to extension talks. Hopefully, that means something will get done between the two sides. If not, I’m looking forward to seeing how Johnson makes the most out of a contract year.
