Chicago Bears retain Jaylon Johnson as NFL trade deadline passes

For a team that was indicating inactivity for the NFL Trade Deadline on Tuesday, the Chicago Bears were certainly in the middle of several trade discussions.

The deadline started on Tuesday with news that cornerback Jaylon Johnson was permitted to seek a trade from the Bears after contract negotiations stalled last week. Despite there being interest from Johnson from several contenders, the Bears never found a trade partner and Johnson will now play out the final season of his rookie contract with the team.

Despite the initial frustrations this morning of the news that Johnson was seeking a trade, there was always a likelihood that he was going to remain with the team for the remainder of the season.

So, then, the question becomes what was the charade of Johnson being able to seek a trade?

There is a need to remove the noise and look at what has been said about the situation between Johnson and the Bears. Johnson has long maintained that his ideal goal is to secure a long-term deal with the Bears. Meanwhile, both Bears’ head coach Matt Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles have gone out of their way to praise the emergence of Johnson as the team’s primary cornerback while also serving as a leader for the team’s defensive unit.

The purpose of allowing Johnson to seek a trade could have been an effort for the cornerback to gauge what his value is across the league. For the Bears, the intention would be for Johnson to have a better sense of what contract offers may be headed his way if he reaches free agency this off-season.

The next step in this process would be for the Bears to extend Johnson to a long-term deal. An extension of Johnson along with the trade for pass rusher Montez Sweat would be the first set of moves that would establish a direction for the team’s defense.

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A year after adding a wide receiver ahead of the NFL trade deadline, the Chicago Bears are attempting to boost their pass rush with a splashy move that general manager Ryan Poles must be hoping has a long-term payoff. The Bears traded a 2024 second-round draft pick Tuesday to the Washington Commanders for defensive end Montez Sweat.

A year after adding a wide receiver ahead of the NFL trade deadline, the Chicago Bears are attempting to boost their pass rush with a splashy move that general manager Ryan Poles must be hoping has a long-term payoff. The Bears traded a 2024 second-round draft pick Tuesday to the Washington Commanders for defensive end Montez Sweat.

Sweat, who leads the Commanders with 6 1/2 sacks, immediately becomes the best edge defender for the Bears, who are last in the NFL with 10 sacks. “Montez is a huge addition to our team,” said general manager Ryan Poles in a statement. “He is not is not only a great player but a great person. We expect him to help elevate our defense.” The Bears can negotiate a contract extension with Sweat or use the franchise tag to secure him before free agency starts in March. They are projected to have about $100 million in salary-cap room, so space to pay Sweat would not be an issue. It would not be surprising if the Bears already are working on a new contract for Sweat with the goal of securing his future with the team when he arrives.

The question now is what happens with cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who received permission overnight to seek a trade before Tuesday’s 3 p.m. deadline. The Bears could recoup draft capital they used to acquire Sweat or potentially keep Johnson and continue to discuss an extension. One theory is the Bears granted Johnson permission to seek a trade in order to gauge what type of contract he could get from other teams. The 27-year-old Sweat, a first-round pick from Mississippi State in 2019, has been the Commanders’ most consistent edge rusher for the last three seasons as a knee injury sidelined Chase Young.

Young has bounced back this season, but concerns about the stability of his right knee — he tore the ACL and patellar tendon in 2021 — made Sweat the more sought-after player as the Commanders sorted through trade options. They also dealt Young to the San Francisco 49ers for a conditional third-round pick, according to reports. The Bears attempted to address their pass rush at the outset of training camp by signing veteran Yannick Ngakoue to a one-year, $10.5 million contract. He has been disappointing so far and hasn’t had a quarterback hit in the last three games. Ngakoue is tied with weak-side linebacker T.J. Edwards for the team lead with two sacks.

Bears defensive ends have combined for 13 quarterback hits, led by DeMarcus Walker’s five, and five sacks in eight games. Securing Sweat would make this a more sound investment than the gamble Poles made at this time last year, when he traded a second-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for wide receiver Chase Claypool. The goal was to provide developing quarterback Justin Fields with more help, but a knee injury sidelined Claypool and he struggled to fit into the offense.

Claypool finished with 14 catches for 140 yards in seven games for the Bears in 2022, and despite everyone saying all the right things about the former Notre Dame standout in the offseason, he didn’t fit in this season either. Poles eventually cut his losses, sending Claypool and a seventh-round pick in 2025 to the Miami Dolphins for a sixth-round pick in 2025. “You’re always disappointed in this situation, and it’s definitely something I take ownership of,” Poles told WMVP-AM 1000 after the trade. “Last year, in the situation we were in, we wanted to add another receiver to the offense, not only to help us be more productive but also to help Justin take the next step. The right thought process was there, and I feel comfortable with that.

That same thought process was in play with Sweat, and if the Bears can work out an extension, they wouldn’t be making as big of a gamble. Plus they’re getting a player with a greater track record of success. ©2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.