Getty Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson.
Jaylon Johnson isn’t planning to stay away from the Chicago Bears for too much longer after missing the first two weeks of voluntary organized team activities.
On Thursday morning, Johnson joined ESPN Radio’s ‘Keyshawn, JWill & Max’ for an interview about his offseason and guaranteed that he will “for sure” be in attendance for the final week of the Bears’ OTAs, explaining why he skipped the first two weeks.
“I’m going to be there for sure next week,” Johnson said on ESPN Radio on June 1. “I know I had a lot of things off the field going on. I have my daughter back home in Fresno, California where I’m from and where she resides at that I don’t get too much time during the season to get with her. For me, the offseason is a lot of time for her, to make that up for family, and I’m a big family guy for sure being a young dad, just trying to be present in my daughter’s life, so I take a lot of pride with that.”
Johnson also explained that he has been tending to several things related to his non-profit, Kevvy’s Vision Project, which he created in honor of his best friend, Kev’Vion Schrubb, who was shot and killed in August 2021. The non-profit hosted its annual free football camp, featuring Johnson, at the beginning of the month.
Johnson was also the Bears’ nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2022 in recognition of his off-the-field efforts in his community.
“Hopefully, [the fans and media] can see the human side of me, see the dad side of me,” Johnson said. “When you pop the helmet off and you kind of take a deep dive into who someone actually is, you get a better understanding.”
Jaylon Johnson: ‘With Winning Comes Paychecks’
Johnson, a 2020 second-round pick, understands he is heading into a crucial fourth season with the Bears in 2023. He told NBC Sports Chicago back in February that a new contract is “definitely the goal” and that he expected negotiations to “heat up” once the first wave of free agency was over. Right now, though, Johnson is more focused on helping the Bears achieve their first winning season since they drafted him.
“I know I can be a dominant corner,” Johnson said Thursday. “I am a dominant corner in this league, following No. 1 receivers and just finding ways to continue to do my job at a higher rate, continue to be a better teammate, continue to find ways to win. I think at the end of the day, that’s all I want to do. I haven’t had a winning season since I’ve been on the Chicago Bears yet. So I mean, for me, I want to come in, I want to be a dominant guy in the league. I want to dominate on this defense and I want to come in and win games and change that narrative.
“With winning comes paychecks, and I think at the end of the day, I need to focus on winning, and that’s what I’m worried about going into Year 4.”
Will Bears Extend Jaylon Johnson Before Season?
GettyBears cornerback Jaylon Johnson says he is “for sure” going to be at the final week of OTAs.
Johnson admitted his desire for a new contract “used to be a lot of pressure.” He went into his third season trying to “put [himself] out there” and prove that he is deserving of a new contract extension. Whether the 24-year-old quarterback accomplished that in the eyes of the Bears’ management, though, is something that remains to be seen.
Bears general manager Ryan Poles has at least expressed some optimism about keeping Johnson in the fold. After the Bears traded up to select Miami cornerback Tyrique Stevenson in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft, he told reporters in his press conference that he hopes Johnson is “a guy we get to keep here for a while.”
It wouldn’t be the first time Poles has said something to that effect about a pending free agent who ultimately departed, though. He said he wanted to keep All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith before deciding to deal him to Baltimore at last year’s trade deadline. The same thing happened with David Montgomery, who signed with the Detroit Lions instead during the offseason despite Poles feeling like they “negotiated well.”
According to Spotrac, Johnson’s projected market value for his next contract is $7.7 million annually, but it would be understandable if he was looking for something more lucrative in the range of what others have gotten in their second NFL contracts, such as Shaquill Griffin (three years, $40 million) or Carlton Davis (three years, $44.5 million). The Bears will certainly have the resources to make a compelling offer with a projected $96.7 million in cap space for the 2024 offseason, if they truly desire to keep him.
The Bears, however, might be more interested in waiting until the end of the 2023 season to make any firm decisions. Johnson will, of course, have a chance to help his case during his fourth season, but the Bears have also sunk three draft picks into new cornerbacks — Kyler Gordon, Stevenson and Terell Smith — over the past two years. At the very least, the young corner depth gives them more leverage in negotiations.