Bear Digest

If Bears want Ben Johnson's players here's who they might find

A few Ben Johnson players in Detroit are unrestricted free agents after this season, including a key offensive lineman and a wide receiver.
Gene Chamberlain|
Lions guard Kevin Zeitler had an outstanding season and is a free agent in 2025. Would he want to follow Ben Johnson?
Lions guard Kevin Zeitler had an outstanding season and is a free agent in 2025. Would he want to follow Ben Johnson? | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

One of the common practices of new coaching regimes is for coaches to bring in players they had with their former team.

It's a way to help the installation of the offense or defense to go smoothly. In many cases, that player might not even fill a key role on the field. A typical player was Equanimeous St. Brown with the Bears. He played but was largely a blocker and after a season had very little role. But he helped greatly with their offensive installation.

Ben Johnson's arrival as Bears coach might come without this sort of thing happening.

However, unless the Lions have a good number of salary cap cuts, the Bears will find few Detroit players on offense to bring on board. They have very few unrestricted free agents.

Quarterback is usually a position where there is most interest because backups can come in and help the starter learn the new attack. The only Lions quarterback who the Bears might be able to sign as an unrestricted free agent is Teddy Bridgewater.

It's not even clear Bridgewater would stay in the NFL as he was out of it coaching high school football and then returned to be a backup in December to Jared Goff. He did know the offense from 2023 when he was on the roster.

Bridgewater replaced Goff in the playoff game when Goff underwent concussion evaluation and was the one who handed off to Jameson Williams on a 61-yard end-around.

Other offensive players who would be available are former Bears wide receiver Allen Robinson, who is an unlikely acquisition because he played only briefly in Detroit. He caught three passes in 12 games in 2024.

Wide receiver Tim Patrick might be a player they could look at because of his knowledge of the offense. He is a free agent after playing four years in Denver, suffering a torn ACL and then a torn Achilles and missing 2022 and 2023. He played in 2024 for the Lions, made 33 catches for 394 yards and three TDS.

Guard Kevin Zeitler is a player who could be of interest, although he is long of tooth at 34 years old now and 13 years in the league. Pro Football Focus graded Zeitler the fifth-best guard in the league this season and he played every game.

At this point in his career, it would be unusual if he decided to follow Johnson, but stranger things happen.

The only other offensive unrestricted free agent is Netane Muti, a 25-year-old guard who would know the offense well but hasn't really played much. He has played 346 snaps in four seasons.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.