Jaylon Johnson is a true playmaker, one that opposing quarterbacks must account for when dropping back to pass, and the NFL has shared a timely reminder of that fact.
Johnson is and has been one of the Chicago Bears’ best players when healthy. Unfortunately for both sides, that was not really the case at any point this past season. The two-time Pro Bowler and 2023 Second Team All-Pro appeared in seven games during the 2025 regular slate.
He started six of those, as he came off the bench for the first time in his career.
Bears’ Jaylon Johnson Draws NFL’s Attention
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The Bears are counting on bounce-backs from several players along their defensive line, specifically at EDGE, to improve their pass rush and elevate the defense as a unit. But Johnson and the Bears’ other top corner, Kyler Gordon, returning from their injuries will help, too.
On Saturday, the league shared a clip of an exchange between Johnson and Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud that underscores how impactful the CB can be.
In it, Stroud referenced Johnson’s remarks about an interception against the Minnesota Vikings.
“Stop telling your secrets on Richard Sherman podcast, dude,” Stroud told Johnson in the clip from the Bears’ 19-13 loss (which featured the QB’s viral postgame interaction with Caleb Williams) to the Texans in Week 2 in 2024. “You ain’t slick, brother. You ain’t getting me.”
During an interview with Sherman, a former NFL corner and Super Bowl champion, Johnson divulged that the Bears had been in a “Palms” look on that INT, which was in 2023.
Johnson told Sherman that he just “got greedy,” peeling off his assignment successfully.
Palms coverage–also called Bait, Jump, or Trap, per vIQtory Sports–requires a corner such as Johnson to read the No. 2, or slot, receiver. If that receiver runs a bubble or out-breaking route, he becomes the corner’s responsibility. Otherwise, the corner sticks with WR1.
Jaylon Johnson’s Playmaking Should Bolster Remade Secondary
The play in question happened during a second-and-12 in the second quarter during the Week 12 contest. Johnson read the slot (Jordan Addison) and “WR1” (in this case, Brandon Powell) correctly.
However, he peeled off Powell to follow Addison, who was running a corner route (running past Gordon and splitting out toward the void between Johnson and former Bears safety Eddie Jackson) as part of a Smash concept known for beating Palms coverage.
The Bears won that game against the Vikings 12-10, with Johnson’s INT coming off then-recently-signed QB Joshua Dobbs.
Still, the sheer ability to make that play is why he has the accolades he has.
Bears Need Different Ability From $76 Million Pro Bowl CB
Johnson’s return to full strength, which he noted before the offseason would not happen until then, should bolster a rebuilt Bears secondary that lost three players who accounted for 15 interceptions last season, though only one–Nahshon Wright (New York Jets) was a corner.
Johnson still managed to come away with a spectacular interception for the Bears during his injury-marred 2025 campaign.
The challenge for Johnson, and the Bears for that matter, has been durability.
He has logged one full regular-season slate in his career. Johnson is set to count $24.5 million in Year 3 of a four-year, $76 million contract. The Bears need him on the field for that kind of commitment.
