For linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, signing with the Chicago Bears was simply a matter of opportunity. Like other players who were in his position, Reeves-Maybin was healthy enough to play and found a team to join.
However, he has landed back with a familiar face in Bears head coach Ben Johnson, whom he first encountered with the Detroit Lions.
What Reeves-Maybin had to say about that version of Johnson and this one was quite telling.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin Offers Telling Take on Ben Johnson After Joining Bears
Ben Johnson & Jalen Reeves-Maybin Have History
Clocker Sports noted Reeves-Maybin’s various ties to the Bears, including Johnson, who joined the Lions in 2019 as an offensive quality control assistant. That was also Reeves-Maybin’s third season in the league.
The ninth-year linebacker said he is still acclimating himself to the Bears. Still, the 2023 Pro Bowl and Second Team All-Pro special teamer remembers their time together in Detroit fondly.
He also remembers something quite telling about Johnson: he has not changed.
“I’ve been with Ben for a while. We always had a good relationship. And seeing him go from – I think he came in in 2018 or 2019, late, maybe in camp or midseason, and kind of seeing him always bring value to the team, and help out wherever he could. It’s been cool to see his climb to now being a head coach,” Reeves-Maybin told Clocker Sports on November 20.
“I don’t think a lot has changed with him. I think he always has been who he’s been. He helps out. He’s always had a good attitude. And besides just having a bigger role and talking to more people, I think that’s the big thing. But I think he’s the same guy that he’s been.”
For all of the questions about how Johnson would handle all the different ups and downs of the NFL, and the consistency that he has shown with the team, it is not new. This is simply who Johnson is, and it has gotten him very far. Time will tell how wise the Bears were to hitch their wagon to the first-year commandant.
Reeves-Maybin said the Bears called him for a workout, and he “got on a plane,” adding there was “no big backstory or anything.”
Reeves-Maybin does not have any ties to Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower.
“I’ve played against him a bunch, and we always talked as competitors,” the veteran told Clocker Sports. “I got a lot of respect for him.”
He fits a mold for the Bears. They have bolstered their special teams in recent weeks. Amen Ogbongbemiga returned from an injury. The Bears also claimed D’Marco Jackson off waivers from the New Orleans Saints. The Saints drafted Jackson, and he played under Bears DC Dennis Allen.
So far, at least (all of two days), things have gone well for Reeves-Maybin in the locker room.
“It’s a cool team,” Reeves-Maybin told Clocker Sports. “Chill, laid back, and it was good to see people I’ve been playing against for a while. So, it’s a good vibe.”
Jalen Reeves-Maybin’s Other Role Looms Large
Reeves-Maybin’s situation drew attention earlier this season, when he received a workout with the San Francisco 49ers. He said that the meeting was just that, with the 49ers opting to go in a different direction in the end.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio noted that Reeves-Maybin remaining in free agency could be an obstacle to his other role as the NFLPA president.
Reeves-Maybin is up for re-election soon.
“The Lions cut linebacker and NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin in March. He has since not landed with another team,” Florio wrote in October. “[The] lingering unemployment of Reeves-Maybin could become a problem in March 2026, when it’s time to elect a new union president.”
Reeves-Maybin told Clocker Sports, “I wouldn’t really say that’s where I was focused on. I just – it was an opportunity presented, and I just wanted to take the opportunity.”
As for whether his side gig has been a hindrance to landing a spot after the Lions cut him in December 2024, the last time he was on an NFL roster?
“I don’t know,” Reeves-Maybin told Clocker Sports. “I don’t have an answer for that.”
