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 rumors of a potential trade, cornerback Jaylon Johnson is remaining with the Chicago Bears as the NFL Trade Deadline passes.

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.