Jaylon Johnson Classifies Talks as Slower

It's wait and see for Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson but he's not losing any sleep over the coming trade deadline.

"No I sleep great at night," Johnson said Thursday at Halas Hall.

Johnson painted his contract talks with the Bears in a somewhat less positive light than he did while talking to WSCR's Parkins & Spiegel earlier this week, although he's not totally discouraged over the fact he hasn't yet received a contract extension.

"I feel like it's been slower than I expected," Johnson said. "Of course, I wanted something as early as possible, of course, heading into the season and things like that.

"Not really caught up in exactly how I want it but hoping it plays out the way I want it too."

Johnson didn't paint the talks as being combative but agreeable definitely wasn't the right term, either.

"I mean, ain't nothing been done so I don't got nothing to agree on yet," he quipped. "I'm looking to see if it is or not."

What he's waiting on besides that is the possibility he'd be traded if the team felt they were too far apart in talks and feared losing him as a free agent in March without draft compensation from another team. However, numerous reports in the last two weeks have said the Bears have not sought to trade Johnson.

Still, it isn't causing Johnson to think he's free from being dealt.

"We're going to see by the 31st," Johnson said. "I don't have a thought process. Were all going to see. I'm waiting to see because somebody can say one thing and you believe it and then something else happens.

"We seen what happened to (Christian) McCaffrey. They (Carolina) told him we weren't going to trade him. Traded him at 11:59. I don't believe hardly anything I'm told. I'm going off actions."

Bears fans seem to hang on every sentence in from Johnson about the situation but his advice is just wait.

"We're going to see by the end of this weekend," he said. "I know at the end of the day, it's all the 'he says, she says.' We're in talks, we're not in talks, at the end of the day we're going to see if something gets done by the trade deadline.

"If I happen to get traded and I get traded; if not, then I get extended,bhopefully, and if not, then I've just got to continue to play. There's plenty of options that this can go in but we're all going to see. I'm waiting to see as well."

The trade deadline doesn't necessarily mean anything other than he will or won't be dealt this season. He could still sign a deal with the Bears at any time or after the season up until free agency in March.

It's just that the price would likely be higher by then for the Bears and they would be backed up against the wall since they would get nothing other than a possible future compensatory pick from the league for losing their 2020 second-round pick as a free agent.

Johnson's goal is simple.

"Security," he said. "That's what all this is. That's what we play the game for, security.

"At the end of the day, a lot of it goes back to respect as well. At the end of the day, it's not just about taking anything as well. You can throw some numbers at somebody and just hope they take anything but that's not what I'm looking to do. I'm looking for respect and security at the end of the day."

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