Now that the Bears have extended Cole Kmet to a long-term deal, the question immediately becomes, “Who’s next?” Cornerback Jaylon Johnson is near the top, if not the No. 1 player on that list right now, but his situation isn’t as cut-and-dry as Kmet’s. There are more questions about whether or not the Bears and Johnson will be able to agree to terms. There were questions about whether Johnson would show up to the Bears summer program at all.
Johnson has shown up to Bears training camp, and he’s decided to fully participate. That’s a significant change from last season when defensive leader Roquan Smith decided to “hold-in” throughout the summer. The spin on “holding out” is newer to the NFL world and means Smith was physically present at Halas Hall and participated in meetings, but never joined the team when it came time to practice. Things got really ugly when Smith publicly accused the Bears of negotiating in bad faith and requested a trade during Family Fest.
Bears brass have noticed Johnson’s willingness to put his body on the line during camp, and they seem to appreciate it. More importantly, Bears coaches say contract negotiations haven’t affected Johnson’s play on the field.
“I didn’t even know there was a distraction,” said defensive coordinator Alan Williams when asked how Johnson has navigated devoting attention to both practice and contract negotiations. “So I would say, if there is, we didn’t notice.”
One thing that could hold Johnson back from a big payday is a lack of takeaways, even if he typically locks down an opponent’s No. 1 wide receiver. It will take some time before we see if Johnson can take the ball away at a higher clip this year, but Williams has noticed an uptick in anticipation from Johnson this year, which should put him in a better position to make big plays.
“Jaylon is, gosh, super, super bright,” Williams said. “A super instinctive guy. So now that he knows what the calls are, knows what calls I like in certain situations, now he can anticipate based on not just, ‘Hey, this is what Alan said my assignments are,’ but, ‘This is what the offense is doing and this is how I fit into that structure. This one is my play to make.’
“I’m starting to see him anticipate a little bit more and play a little bit faster than he did last year at this point in time.”
Chicago Bears
Johnson has made it clear he’d prefer to get a new deal ASAP, but his priorities are to play and to win. That's why he's at training camp, participating in full.
“The way I see it, I still got a lot to earn,” Johnson said. “I feel like I still have a lot to prove.”
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