Chicago Bears’ most underrated player: CB Jaylon Johnson

The Bears selected Jaylon Johnson out of Utah in the second round of the 2020 draft, and watched as his coverage profile expanded in a positive sense over the next four seasons. Johnson went from allowing an opponent passer rating of 106.7 in 2020, to 101.3 in 2021, to 96.8 in 2022… to 33.3 in 2023. That was the lowest passer rating allowed by any NFL cornerback playing at least 50% of his snaps, and that was the case to an amazing degree. DaRon Bland ranked second with an opponent passer rating of 52.6.

How do you get an opponent passer rating of 33.3? If you’re Johnson, you allow 25 catches on 50 targets for 195 yards, 115 yards after the catch, one touchdown, four interceptions, and six pass breakups. That got Johnson a new four-year, $76 million contract with $43.8 million guaranteed, so he’s not internally underrated. But if he has another season like he just did, it will be time to talk about Johnson as one of the NFL’s best at his position. https://twitter.com/NFL_DougFarrar/status/1793663827000918070