2023 Chicago Bears Training Camp Dates: 3 stories to watch

The Chicago Bears have plenty of money available for contract extensions.

While the Chicago Bears were certainly active during free agency, the team did not spend as aggressively as some were anticipating at the start of the offseason.

Barring an unexpected trade for a player with a heavy salary cap hit, the Bears are going to enter their 2023 training camp with the most cap space of any NFL team.

As currently calculated via Spotrac, the Bears have just over $31.5MM in available cap space this season. It seems unlikely that the Bears are going to enter the 2023 NFL season at that number and that may indicate contract extensions are likely.

All eyes are on cornerback Jaylon Johnson. Johnson is entering the final year of his rookie contract with the Bears and his play has put him in a position to be a prime candidate for a contract extension.

Though, like last summer with Roquan Smith, this may be a test to see what the Bears value at the cornerback position.

It is clear that the Bears value takeaways but that is not an element that has been a part of Johnson’s game as he only has one career interception to go along with two forced fumbles.

Johnson’s argument, however, would be that he is the definition of a shutdown cornerback as opposing teams often throw in the opposite direction of him.

While the attention will be on Johnson, it seems likely that tight end Cole Kmet may quietly go about getting a new contract before the start of the season.