The Bears have made a lot of changes since hiring head coach Matt Eberflus and General Manager Ryan Poles early this year, but cornerback Jaylon Johnson remains on hand as he moves toward his third NFL season.
While Johnson is a holdover, he’s fully embracing the overhaul. He said on Tuesday that it his mindset is that this year represents a “complete reset” and that he feels Eberflus and the rest of the coaches “want me to show them what I can do in person moving forward.”
Johnson thinks the same should be true of the team’s top two draft picks. Cornerback Kyler Gordon and safety Jaquan Brisker joined the team as second-round picks last month and Johnson said the team shouldn’t wait to put them front and center on defense.
“I’d throw ‘em in the fire if you asking me,” Johnson said, via Gene Chamberlain of SI.com. “I mean, they’re our first two draft picks. I feel like we’ve got to [see] what they can do right now. And then I feel like we can kind of know what the attitude and what the vibe is heading into camp. If I was the coach I wouldn’t ease them into it. I would throw them out there.”
Given the makeup of the Bears secondary, Johnson’s wish seems likely to be granted and it won’t be a surprise if a lot of young players are thrown right into the fire as the Bears try to find the foundation for consistent winners in the years to come.