NEWSLETTER
At a minimum, Jaylon Johnson is hanging around for another season.
Despite GM Ryan Poles saying the team came “strong” with an extension offer, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the Chicago Bears are reportedly placing the Franchise Tag on CB1:
Sigh. It should not have ever come down to this. But here we are, so let’s discuss.
UPDATE I — ESPN’s Courtney Cronin reports it is a non-exclusive Franchise Tag for Jaylon Johnson. For those who are unfamiliar with that particular tag, I’d like to direct you to Patrick’s explanation:
Non-Exclusive Franchise Tag: This variation allows players to negotiate with other teams. If a player on a non-exclusive tag agrees to a deal with a new team, the original team can match it or refuse and be awarded two first-round picks as compensation. The salary on a non-exclusive tag is determined by the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position from the previous five years applied to the current salary cap or for 120 percent of the player’s previous salary, whichever number is higher. If the current team does not match the offer from a new team, they will receive two first-round picks in return.
Full disclosure: I don’t love the Franchise Tag because I feel as if is more team-friendly than it is player-friendly and it limits player movement. With that being said, I wonder if the non-exclusive tag will allow this situation to play out similar to how things went with Kyle Fuller and the Bears in 2018. If you’ll recall, the Bears gave Fuller the Transition Tag and essentially let the Green Bay Packers do the hard work of drawing up a contract to where all the Bears had to do was match it. They did … and the rest was history.
Perhaps this is the best path for the Bears. And if they don’t like the terms of the deal from an offering team, they could simply decline to match and then recoup two future first-round draft picks. It wouldn’t be ideal to lose a Pro Bowl cornerback in his prime, but getting two first-round picks for losing that type of player would soften the blow.
UPDATE II — It’s officially official, via the Bears.
What does it mean for Jaylon Johnson to get the Franchise Tag from the Bears?
Depending on your point of view, the Franchise Tag is a tool that NFL teams deploy to keep a player on a one-year deal with a non-negotiated salary. There are times when the tag is used when a team is unsure if it wants to keep the player for the long haul. Think of it as an expensive one-year “prove it” deal. In other instances, the tag is placed on a player to extend contract negotiations because the two sides can’t reach an agreement on a long-term deal. Sometimes, two sides need extra time to piece together a deal. Contract negotiations can be a tedious event.
So, for Jaylon Johnson, getting the Franchise Tag means he’ll play the 2024 NFL season on a fully guaranteed one-year deal worth $19.802 million. That wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen. But based on how Johnson speaks glowingly about wanting to stay and Bears General Manager Ryan Poles publicly declaring Jaylon isn’t going anywhere, I don’t imagine playing on the tag is ideal for either party. I truly hope this situation works itself out between now and July 15 when tagged players have to sign an extension. If a deal isn’t consummated by then, Johnson will play on the tag.
We’ve been banging the table for a Johnson extension since December 2022. Since then, the cost of an extension has likely gone up after Johnson put together his first Pro Bowl season, earned second-team All-Pro status. and was the highest-graded cornerback at Pro Football Focus. In other words, Johnson can make a case that he is coming off a season in which he was the league’s best corner and should be paid accordingly — an argument I wouldn’t have any beef with him putting out on the table. Throw in the NFL’s salary cap reaching an all-time high only and there is even more of a reason to wait out a better offer from the Bears.
No one wanted it to come to this. But the way I see it, Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson getting the Franchise Tag is a necessary evil. Now, let’s make a deal.
