MARCH 8: The Bears’ successful effort to convince Johnson to accept an AAV below the franchise tag number came because of the frontloaded offer they presented. The contract will pay Johnson $28MM in 2024, according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, with another $16MM in 2025. That two-year total is just north of where two tags would have gotten the four-year veteran ($43.56MM) and helps explain how the Bears locked him down days after applying the tag.
MARCH 7: After resuming extension talks with Jaylon Johnson recently, the Bears are set to remove that $19.8MM cap hold from their 2024 payroll. They have agreed to terms on an extension with the franchise-tagged cornerback, Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz tweets.
The sides are believed to have agreed to a four-year, $76MM extension that comes with $54.4MM guaranteed. This will give the Bears more cap space as they prepare to begin, in all likelihood, the Caleb Williams era. It also provides Johnson with a landmark raise considering his status going into last season.
This brings a choppy process to a conclusion; it also represents the culmination of a breakthrough year for the former second-round pick. After initial negotiations did not lead to the parties being on the same page, the Bears let Johnson seek a trade just before the deadline. The 49ers and Bills showed interest, but the Bears held out for a first- or second-round pick. After the deadline, both the Bears and Johnson expressed interest in regrouping and working on a deal. They have done so, and Johnson is now one of the NFL’s highest-paid corners.
Thursday’s extension gives the Bears a big-ticket contract on all three defensive levels; each has been agreed to over the past year. The Bears signed Tremaine Edmunds in free agency and acquired Montez Sweat via trade, extending him soon after that deal came to pass. Johnson gives Chicago a high-end DB payment. After Ryan Poles moved the last of Ryan Pace‘s high-end defender contracts (Eddie Jackson‘s) off the books this offseason, the third-year GM has reshaped Chicago’s defense.
Oftentimes, the franchise tag number serves as the floor for players regarding extensions. The Bears, despite the salary cap’s recent surge, have managed to lock down Johnson at an AAV slightly under his tag price. The $19MM-per-year salary only makes Johnson the NFL’s seventh-highest-paid CB, but it doubles as a windfall for a player who was not viewed as worthy of this type of contract going into last season. It also may set the market for L’Jarius Sneed, whom the Chiefs tagged and are believed to be OK with trading.
As far as guarantees go, Johnson’s $54.4MM figure will check in fifth at the position. ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler adds $43.8MM is believed to be fully guaranteed, and $28MM will come Johnson’s way in Year 1. That more important number ranks third among corners. Although Johnson came into the offseason expressing hope he could become the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback, a frontloaded Bears offer likely swayed him from coming especially close to betting on himself again. Johnson, 25, will receive $60MM over the deal’s first three years, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reports.
Johnson said last summer he wanted to sign a second contract with the Bears; the negotiations changed course after the season the former Pace draftee put together. Pro Football Focus graded Johnson first overall among corners, and Pro-Football-Reference’s coverage metrics backed that up. After allowing passer ratings (as the closest defender) north of 94.0 from 2020-22, Johnson checked in with a 50.9 number this season — a four-INT slate that produced a second-team All-Pro honor.
Also voted a Pro Bowler, Johnson had not received recognition coming into last season. This well-timed breakout reminds of Josh Norman‘s in 2015, but the ex-Panther needed to find his payday elsewhere after the team rescinded the contract-year wonder’s franchise tag, leading to a Washington landing. The Bears are instead investing in their late bloomer.
With Kyler Gordon and Tyrique Stevenson still on rookie contracts, Johnson will be the expensive piece at the position for the foreseeable future. The Bears may well be planning more moves to bolster their roster, with Williams’ rookie deal on track to reset the team’s contract clock at the position after three Justin Fields seasons.
Seemed silly to let him go after a breakout season when the roster is starting to coalesce, they have a ton of cap space, and they’re about to restart the QB rookie contract clock, especially since they could do it short of the top of the market. With Johnson and all their young guys, it’s a promising and reasonably priced position group.
Yeaaaaaa
Great deal for both sides!! Hope JJ is soon joined by newly cut FS Justin Simmons, a fellow BC alum of Poles. They could then have the league’s best defensive backfield with Brisker, Stevenson, Gordon, Smith, Stroman and Jones.
28 million dollar cap # this year? Don’t tell all those who are talking about how much cap space the Bears have. No more Danielle Hunter.
That article is completely wrong according to Spotrac. It’s not 28 million coming his way this year according to them.
That’s his cash he’s making this year. Not his cap hit. 2 completely different things
They’re still among the top few teams in cap space after doing this.
Hunter is too close to 30 for the amount he’s gonna want. I think Poles might be smart to go after Wilkins. He’s 25, a monster and a 3 technique that Eberflub covets.
Don’t fret @UncleMike. The deal is quite favorable to the Bears, while at the same time giving JJ fantastic wealth & security. The $28M and all guarantees are averaged over four years of the deal and can be structured so that this year’s cap number is lower or higher than the AAV.
Importantly, they may hide the details for a bit so as not to give away their plans in FA or in the draft. Bring on Christian Wilkins & Justin Simmons signings!
The article first said clearly his ” Cap #” this year would be 28 million. They must have fixed it.
Damn, Poles at it again. I think many were hoping this kid would end up on the open market or a possible trade target. Not only does Poles sign him but for less than projected and will have even more cap space.
Nice move for Chicago. It appears they finally have some studs in their front office.
Unfortunately you can go from “stud” to “dud” in less time that it takes to read this comment.
I hope he doesn’t act or play like Eddie Jackson after he got paid..
Or JC Jackson
Nice
So he got the tag number for 4 years with most of it guaranteed. That’s a fair deal for both sides. It’s neither the highest CB contract but it’s pretty good. They still need an Edge to go with Sweat and Walker to make them deeper and the DB’s better. But they should make enough progress so that Eberflus has no excuses. So I ask again, If Eberflus isn’t up to the task, And they fire him after this year, What happens to the rookie QB then? He gets to start all over with a new OC or do they fire Eberflus and make the new coach take Waldron? Do we keep playing this stupid folly game of switching half the coaches? Yikes.
That’s the one move Poles really screwed up. Keeping Eberflub. He’s absolutely clueless about offense (or he might’ve stepped in to help Getsy- Nope); he’s lost as last year’s Easter eggs at the end of games- Having a defensive lineman (Jones) cover the tight end with the Cleveland game on the line was, in itself, a fireable offense. He blew three large 4th quarter leads and on top of that he was completely out-coached not once, but twice by LaFleur.. Yes, the D improved-but not until after the Montez Sweat trade.. Better hope Waldron knows what he’s doing because the thought of a rookie QB in Eberflub’s hands is eye rolling.
To the Bears fight song:
Trade Down
Chicago Bears
We need more picks
For Victory
Trade Down
Chicago Bears
It’s really quite simple
For all to see
I think there’s an alternate version that goes…
♫ The wind is blowing off the lake
We can’t decide if we prefer cookies or cake
We’re hungry as a Bear can be
But we can’t seem to find
Honey in the tree. ♫
LMAO
Absolute latest figures according to Spotrac:
Bears Cap space after Bates and Johnson
64 million
Other waste that can go: dead money savings
Borom- 3 Million
Blasingame 1.6 million
Velus Jones- 1 million
Travis Homer-2 million
Add another 8 million or so to the party
Somehow the Bears brought JJ’s Cap # down to around 14 million this year so 72 million minus 14 million for the draft picks they have leaves 58 million for:
An Edge
A Safety
A Center
B/U TE
and Wrs’s (4?)
RB?
with 5 draft picks as it stands
Still work to be done.
Agreed that they’ll likely cut Borom, Blasingame and Homer, though I think Velus will stay another year on and off the active roster. And don’t forget a Fields trade will free another $3.23M. The $800K for pick 143 traded away for Bates reduces the draft outlay to less than the savings from those four off the roster, adding to their overall cap space.
Interestingly, the Bears chose to make JJ’s cap number $13M in 2024 and $21M each year after. It seems to confirm their future cap will include cap savings at QB. OverTheCap has their current space at $62.7M, all of which should be available for FAs and trade acquisitions. I expect big investments on the D-line and Center. Possibly two ex-Dolphins?
Monday should be fun for Bears fans!