CHICAGO — General manager Ryan Poles is going to need to clear some time in his schedule for Jaylon Johnson after the season.

If things go the way the Chicago Bears cornerback envisions, it’s going to be time for them to talk about a raise — a big one — for the two-time Pro Bowl selection.

Poles surely loves having players who are supremely motivated and confident in themselves in a very public manner. That’s precisely what Johnson did after a wet and soggy practice Saturday morning at Halas Hall.

“This is definitely a contract year,” Johnson said in his first media availability since January. “We all know with the cap (has risen) and all that stuff. It’s definitely a contract year for me, so at the end of the day, whether that’s here or somewhere else, I’ve got to put it on tape that I am still a top guy in this league.”

The next move, of course, belongs to Johnson. Everyone is curious what he looks like after playing in only nine games last season, including the postseason, and dealing with a groin injury that required core muscle surgery.

At 27, he’s the elder statesman in the secondary, and if you were making a list of the most important players for the Bears defense to make significant improvement in 2026, maybe defensive end Montez Sweat is first. If Johnson isn’t second, he had better be third or you need to reorder some names.

Johnson missed the first half of the voluntary offseason program as he got married this spring. He arrived in time for OTAs and looked pretty good from the jump. He had a two-interception day during minicamp and has looked fluid and locked in through four days of practice, deflecting a Caleb Williams pass for Zavion Thomas on an in-breaking route during 11-on-11 work Saturday.

The coaching staff has a host of questions about nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon, who remains on the physically unable to perform list and appeared in only five games with the playoffs last year. They’re also curious about Johnson because they’ve yet to experience him in top form after he arrived to training camp injured in 2025.

“It’s a really good start,” coach Ben Johnson said Friday. “Happy with how he’s approaching his work right now. He’s highly motivated to garner the respect that certainly I had for him when I came into the building. He felt like last year was a disappointment and so he wants to get back to being on the upper echelon of cover corners in this league. So you kind of see that approach.

“I can’t tell you how long it will be over the course of camp, but we’re just looking for consistency right now throughout the entire roster. That’s how you gain trust with your teammates, that’s how you provide value to the team. So each and every day we’re just looking to continue to stack days and I think that’s been his mindset.”

Jaylon said he wasn’t able to play without pain until the playoffs. He missed Weeks 3 through 12 before finally getting on the field for the Black Friday win in Philadelphia. He made one interception and had two pass deflections with 17 tackles in the regular season and added two more pass breakups in the playoffs.

“The only time I wasn’t in pain playing was probably the Rams maybe the first playoff game,” he said. “Other than that, I was taking pain medicine, getting numbing shots, trying to do whatever. I was doing everything I can. At the end of the day I was only two, three months out of core surgery. For a corner, that’s a tough position to be in.”

As far as maybe pushing too quickly to come back, the bottom line was he had a burning desire to get back on the field and the Bears needed him as they stacked wins in a march to the postseason.

“At the end of the day I’m a competitor,” Jaylon said. “I easily could have sat on my ass and not played and just watch it be what it was. I felt like what I had to give was enough to contribute to the team. Of course, it wasn’t nowhere near who I could be. I feel like people know that.”

A full offseason to heal up, strengthen his core and get back to running the way he can has him confident that he’s on his way back to recapturing the Pro Bowl form he played at in 2023 and 2024, the year the Bears placed the franchise tag on him before signing him to a four-year, $76 million extension. He said he’s incorporating regular Pilates work into his routine to strengthen his core.

“Jaylon at his best has been a competitive zone-man corner who can press and jam in the flat and is aggressive and can tackle and also go out and play matchup-man coverage,” a pro scout for another team said. “He’s not in the same tier as Patrick Surtain II in Denver, but he’s been willing and able to do it against the top receivers in the league. For me, he’s been a back-half-of-the-top-10 corner when he’s at his best.

“Last year, he was a prime example of a guy who missed practice time, wasn’t in elite shape and didn’t tackle real well. What you saw on tape and in his production reflected that.”

Jaylon is under contract with the Bears through 2027 for $16 million, but the guaranteed money in the deal is exhausted. He’s cognizant of the reality that highly paid veterans who no longer have guaranteed money can be set up for a contract extension if things go well. If things go south, they become easy cut candidates.

“I’m not a dummy,” he said. “I think we all know that. I structured my deal a certain way to put myself back at the table at the age of 27. So, for me it was always for this point to get here and then show out and do what I do and to be healthy and be out there doing what I do best and that’s covering, that’s making plays, being a difference maker. Then from there, wherever that contract goes, it goes.”

Where the market has gone is up, up, up since his last contract. His $19 million annual average ranks 13th in the league among cornerbacks, and four players have eclipsed the $30 million mark. The New England Patriots’ Christian Gonzalez and Seattle Seahawks’ Devon Witherspoon could soon land deals that push Jaylon to 15th.

So, he’s probably spot-on in saying it will be time for a renegotiation — if he plays well. How receptive the club would be to that is impossible to say, but if Jaylon becomes a top performer again, it’s probably something Poles will have to entertain given his track record for treating players fairly.

There will be ample opportunities for Jaylon and the rest of the secondary to work against some of the best wide receivers in the league. In just the first 10 games of the season, Justin Jefferson, DeVonta Smith, Garrett Wilson, Drake London, A.J. Brown, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Chris Olave are on the schedule. Jaylon has always relished opportunities to face Jefferson, and this is a stacked list of receivers.

There’s a hunger to help the defense improve in a host of statistical categories that didn’t reflect positively on the Bears a year ago, and that’s motivation for him as well. So, this isn’t just a guy eyeing another pay day.

“Outside of takeaways we finished, if I’m not mistaken, bottom 10, bottom five in a lot of categories,” Jaylon said. “So for me, we ain’t done a damn thing. There’s a lot for us to prove on defense. Of course, the offense is rolling. But that’s not something we can rely on: OK, the offense go put up 40 and we’ll hold them to 35. To me, that’s unacceptable.

“We’ve still got a lot to do and to prove. You go down the list. I’ve got a lot to prove. People don’t think I am who I am because of an injured year last year. Tyrique (Stevenson) is on a contract year. He’s got to prove himself. There are plenty of guys. Kyler, when he gets back, he has to prove himself. On the D-line, there are a lot of doubters that don’t believe in them. They’ve got to prove themselves. If guys aren’t hungry, I don’t know what to say or what to do about that. We’ve got a lot of people that are motivated and we’ve got to go out there and play.”

That motivation is just that, and as Jaylon proved in 2023 — when the team tried to get a contract done with him and could not — he’s quite comfortable taking his chips, moving them to the center of the table and betting on himself.

“There ain’t no pressure,” he said. “I am who I am and I do what I do regardless of the circumstance. I am just happy to be healthy.”

If his health indeed matches his swagger, this could be a bounce-back year as well as a contract year.

____

©2026 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.