Former Ute Jaylon Johnson Nearing Historic Contract Thanks to Impressive Season
The Chicago Bears have been surging in recent weeks thanks in large part to a former Ute who has emerged as one of the NFL’s best young defensive backs.
Jaylon Johnson, who played football at the University of Utah from ‘17-19 is having a career year in 2023. The 24-year-old, who is playing in his fourth year with the Bears, is currently rated as the No.1 cornerback in terms of passer rating allowed (26.2), according to PFF.
Pass coverage has never been a weakness of Johnson’s. Going back to his time in college with the Utes, Johnson was an island, earning multiple first-team Pac-12 honors (2018, 2019) for his role on the team’s defense.
In 2019, Johnson led the entire Utah defense with 11 pass breakups, was tied for second on the team in interceptions (2), and tied for first on the team with one defensive touchdown. For his dominant season, Johnson earned second-team All-American honors from Walter Camp, the AP, Sports Illustrated, and USA Today.
Johnson, who has two interceptions in his last two weeks with the Bears, is playing his best football at just the right time.
Drafted by Chicago in the 2nd round of the 2020 NFL draft, Johnson is currently in the last year of his 4-year, $6,468,770 rookie deal. With an expiring rookie deal, Johnson’s 2023 season emerged as a contract year, a season that could make or break the financial outlook of his next contract.
Throughout Johnson’s time in the NFL, there has never been a question of whether or not he’s an elite coverage corner. However, coming into the 2023 season, the 6 '0 corner struggled at creating turnovers, forcing only one interception in his first three seasons combined.
Perhaps due to the contract year phenomenon, but more likely because he is undoubtedly an elite NFL corner, Johnson has switched the narrative on its head and forced four interceptions in 11 games during the 2023 season. This includes a two-interception game that occurred during the Bears' dominant Week 7 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.
“After this season, I feel like there’s not anything that you can say that I’m not doing,” Johnson said in an appearance on the Parkins & Spiegel Show, “I feel like before the season, (I felt) for three years, I’ve covered at a high rate. And it’s been like, ‘Oh, can he get the interception? Can he get the interception?’ So it’s like, after this year, you can’t say I can’t cover at a high level … You can’t say I’m not an elite cover guy. You can’t say that I can’t take the ball away. You can’t say to me that I can’t tackle. So I mean, realistically, what is it that I can’t do that deserves top pay, top corner money? I feel like now there’s definitely opportunity and room – and especially if I touch All-Pro…”
Since Johnson’s interview with the Parkins & Spiegel Show on Dec. 11th, it’s already been reported that the Bears have offered him a 5-year, $93M contract extension (MJ Hurley on X).
With an average annual value of about $18.6 million, the proposed contract would be the league’s fifth most valuable cornerback contract in history.
A well-deserved bag for one of the most talented pro-Utes, Johnson is a testament to the Utah program’s prowess at developing NFL-caliber secondary players.
