Bear Digest

Report: Jaylon Johnson Trade Talk Heats Up

A report by ESPN's Jeremy Fowler says Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson has been given permission to seek a trade.
Gene Chamberlain|
Report: Jaylon Johnson Trade Talk Heats Up
Report: Jaylon Johnson Trade Talk Heats Up

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Chicago Bears

The Bears could be in for another midseason tear down trade. 

According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson has requested a trade and the Bears granted him permission to search for a team willing to come up with the right compensation before the 3 p.m. Tuesday trade deadline.

It doesn't necessarily mean Johnson is out the door because the Bears might not get an offer they deem acceptable.  In that case, the Bears could be back Wednesday with the same group that lost Sunday 30-13 to the Chargers.

Johnson and the Bears had contract talks within the last 10 days, Johnson had said last week at Halas Hall. At the time, he wasn't elated with the progress of talks, and the report by ESPN says they couldn't reach an agreement.

The impact midseason deals for draft picks can have on a team is something well known to the Bears. 

It was last year they dealt away Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn before trade deadline. The team never recovered, especially from losing Smith. The defense allowed 33.1 points a game the rest of the year after Smith's departure and the Bears never won another game.

Of course, it wasn't as simple as the trades causing their collapse but it did have an effect within the locker room. Coach Matt Eberflus has acknowledged this. Players have, as well.

"We had one of our captains traded midseason, so that kind of took a toll on the defense," defensive tackle Justin Jones said during June minicamp. "That was a pretty huge blow, and we haven't won a game since he left. It was tough on us."

They didn't win again until 14 games had passed, as it turned out.

So would the Bears be reluctant to make a deal based on last year's devastating effect in the locker room? Coach Matt Eberflus didn't seem too excited about the possibility.

"Yeah, I know that our locker room's close," Bears coach Matt Eberflus said Monday. "And they're like brothers. It's a very tight group. They have real good relationships with each other and they spend time with each other.

"If you ever end up trading somebody, for example last year we did. Certainly this year, because we're real tight this year. And I would just say that it's hurtful. It's like, 'Wow. This guy or that guy (got traded).' So you've got to be ahead of it. If you're gonna do that, you have to be ahead of it and explain to the players why and what happened and making sure you're ahead of it ahead of time the best you can. That's what we learned."

Johnson's loss would definitely be felt immediately and it should have been apparent from Sunday night's game. The Chargers openly picked on rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and he allowed 12 completions in 13 targets according to Pro Football Focus.

The backup for Johnson is rookie Terell Smith, who is unavailable on injured reserve due to mono. The other backup is undrafted Jaylon Jones.

Johnson had an 65.2 PFF coverage grade in Sunday's game despite the Bears secondary being picked apart by Justin Herbert. It was the highest grade among starters. Through eight weeks, Johnson has the league's third-highest PFF coverage grade and third-highest overall cornerback grade from PFF.

There's no doubt the Bears can afford a new cornerback contract. They have the most available salary cap space for 2024 according to the latest Overthecap.com figures at $82.28 miilion.

Mike Fisher of FanNation's Cowboys Country on Monday reported a Dallas Cowboys interest in Johnson. The Cowboys lost cornerback Trevon Diggs to a torn ACL.

The other Bears rumor was being linked to interest in Commanders defensive end Chase Young. Their lack of a pass rush in Sunday night's game and other games this year definitely categorizes them as a team in need of pass rush help.

Fox Sports' Jay Glazer shot down the rumor on the network's pregame Sunday show.

"There is rumors out there that the Chicago Bears have a deal for Chase Young," Glazer said. "That is not true."

What Glazer was responding to isn't certain but it sure wasn't the PFT story because that one never said the Bears were actually trading for Young. The PFT story said their were rumors about the Bears showing interest in Young, not that there was a trade.

There could be even more rumors pop up before the 3 p.m. trade deadline, as well as confusion and altered rumors.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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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.

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