Jaylon Johnson finally emerged with a contract extension from the Chicago Bears in March.
The Bears asked him to come to Halas Hall to announce the $76 million deal with $47.8 million guaranteed, the second-highest amount ever given to a defensive player. Johnson was willing, but only if the team commissioned a private jet to fly him and his loved ones from his hometown of Fresno, California. The Bears agreed.
At the press conference, nine of his aides – including father John Johnson Sr., mother Carmella Warren Johnson, brother, roommate and coach Johnny Johnson, agent Chris Ellison and girlfriend Janessa McFadden – accompanied Johnson. He entered wearing a long-sleeved Prada shirt with mother-of-pearl buttons and handmade fringes on the shoulders. The red and black pattern appeared to be from an exotic butterfly.
Johnson had prepared an opening statement. Then I modified it. “My spirit was like: You can’t do this without talking about what you’ve been through,” he says. “You have to put it all out there.”
He began the press conference by thanking God, then abruptly said, “Last season I went to therapy for sexual addiction.”
No one knew he would say something like that, not even the people he brought with him. And few could understand why.
This wasn’t so much a contract signing as a metamorphosis.
For a while, Johnson was defined by what he didn’t have: interceptions, a new contract and self-control.
In early 2022, the Bears hired a new general manager and head coach. Johnson, a second-round pick in 2020, did not show up for voluntary offseason workouts. When mandatory training began, he had been relegated to the second series. He quickly regained his starting spot, but some hard feelings lingered, especially as Johnson acclimated to coach Matt Eberflus’ push for greater intensity.
Since his rookie training camp, Johnson hasn’t been shy about questioning or challenging authority, and that hasn’t changed over time.
“Clearly, I was one of the best guys on the team, so they should have conveyed a sense of respect,” Johnson says. “I shouldn’t have to take care of everything myself. Do not play with me. We are grown men. “I didn’t feel appreciated by the coaching staff.”
Takeaways are priority #1. 1 in the Eberflus defense, and given that Johnson had no interceptions and missed six games with injuries in 2022, «they were probably wondering what I could do,» he says.
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Johnson had just one interception in 39 games in his first three NFL seasons, but part of his problem may have been that he’s so sticky in the melee that quarterbacks avoided throwing to the players he covered. “He has exceptional speed,” says Eberflus. “He has the elite ability to stick to receivers. And he’s super smart.
The Bears’ confidence in him remained in question. Johnson was hoping for an offseason contract extension. There have been talks, but the two parties have remained far from a middle ground. They decided to see how Johnson played early in the season and revisit him.
In the spring of 2023 Johnson was baptized. Church has always been part of his life. Years ago he had “Proverbs 16:3” tattooed on his arm: “Commit your deeds to the Lord and your plans will succeed.”
He didn’t need to be baptized, but he wanted to be.
“I didn’t want to continue to be what I say is a lukewarm Christian, reading Bible verses but living life in a different way,” he says. “I wanted to make a commitment and express my faith to the world.”
He also needed to reorient himself. He had been unfaithful to Janessa, his girlfriend since 2021. Again. And he watched a lot of pornography.
Johnson says he lost his virginity at 16 and then adopted the mindset that more is better. In high school she was a four-star recruit. In college at Utah, she was all-conference. Things went easily for the big man on campus.
“Playing a manly sport attracted me to girls,” he says. “It wasn’t difficult to go to a party, get a number and have sex. “I got lost in the sense of who I was created to be versus whatever felt good.”
Johnson graduated in two and a half years, and the Bears drafted him in the second round in 2020. As a pro, he was afforded an unhealthy combination of time and stardom.
“I could just have fun, sleep with whoever I wanted,” he says. “Every time nothing happened, the problem came back to the girls. “It got to the point where I wasn’t able to shake it anymore.”
I justified it. He wasn’t doing anything different than a lot of people like him.
I downplayed it. Nobody got hurt, right?
In the summer of 2023, Johnson began to see more clearly. He wouldn’t want his 4-year-old daughter, Zaveah, to end up with someone who acted like him. McFadden was special, he believed it, and he didn’t want to lose her. He was ashamed.
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He finally admitted to himself and McFadden that he had a problem. I spent an hour or two in therapy almost every week during the season. However it was a struggle. He had to break down the walls, talk about his childhood and accept the blame.
What he was going through had nothing to do with football.
And everything that has to do with football.
In a sunny fourth quarter at Soldier Field, Johnson looked into the eyes of Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Brian Hoyer. Johnson hung back, waiting for wide receiver Davante Adams to break. As Hoyer raised his arm, Johnson skipped the route, stepped in front of Adams and made the interception — his first in 28 games. He ran it back 39 yards for a touchdown, then intercepted another pass five plays later.
Jaylon Johnson’s interception return for a touchdown against the Raiders in October 2023 helped him on his way to the Pro Bowl. (Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images)
The Bears reopened negotiations, but their respective opinions on his value were still divergent.
“Their offers were disrespectfully low,” Johnson says. “The players compared me, there is no way to compare me to these players. One of them was Byron Murphy (of Minnesota).
Johnson was frustrated, and not just because of his contract situation. The Bears lost seven of their first nine games after a 3-14 record the year before.
“We just kept losing, losing, losing,” he says. “And then they showed no interest in bringing me back. “I wasn’t happy with the culture and how we were losing, so I asked for a trade.”
The Bears refused. Then, in late October, as the trade deadline approached, he asked a second time. Chicago gave its agent, Ellison, permission to acquire Johnson, but said they wouldn’t accept anything less than a first-round pick in exchange, according to Johnson. Ellison says seven or eight teams were interested. According to Johnson, those included the Bills, 49ers, Raiders and Steelers. The Bills and 49ers attempted to reach an agreement but ultimately were unwilling to meet the Bears’ demands.
So the trade deadline passed, contract negotiations were discussed, and Johnson committed to making the Bears realize he was worth what he thought he was.
“I didn’t want to talk about it anymore,” he says. “I didn’t want to think about it anymore. She was, let’s go play football.”
Johnson finished the season with four interceptions – he dropped two other potential picks – 10 passes defensed and one touchdown allowed. He was voted second-team All-Pro and Pro Bowler and was given Pro Football Focus’ highest grade among cornerbacks.
On March 5, Chicago awarded Johnson the non-exclusive franchise tag. Two days later, the parties agreed on terms for its four-year extension.
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They say money like his changes his life, but it’s not as if he bought a castle on a cliff or a gold chain heavy enough to stop a hot air balloon from taking off.
Teammates tease him because he still drives a Honda Accord.
“Hey, it’s sporty, clean, all black,” he says. “He takes Me to and from where I need to go.”
Money is, however, a statement. And so are the words.
“Jaylon has shown everything we want in a Chicago Bear,” says Eberflus, who plans to use Johnson in new ways this season. “That’s how we conceived of it in terms of a love for football, a very talented player and a desire to try to master his art. He’s a really good teammate. He and he is one of ours.»
Falcons receiver Darnell Mooney, Johnson’s former teammate in Chicago, calls him the best cornerback in the NFL. «He always gives me trouble,» Mooney says. “Every time I stand against him, I have to be focused.”
At just 25 years old, Johnson has become the elder statesman of the Bears’ secondary and a cornerstone of a young team. Johnson says his relationship with the coaching staff has improved over time. He is happy to be a Bear and invigorated by the challenge of fulfilling his contract and earning his next one, which he will have the chance to sign before his 30th birthday.
In keeping with his new status, Johnson has a new uniform number: 1. Johnson switched from 33 to the number he wore in high school and college when it became available after the trade of quarterback Justin Fields. He says he loves the new atmosphere.
Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson and girlfriend Janessa McFadden are expecting a baby. (Courtesy of Jaylon Johnson)
Therapy did what he hoped, allowing him to regain control and improve his outlook. “I learned that cheating on yourself should be sacred to someone you’re going to spend the rest of your life with,” he says. Making his addiction public could benefit others with similar problems, he believes, so he has no regrets.
His relationship with McFadden is in a good place, really in a good place. Last month I proposed. She said yes. He believes his honesty and her support are making him better. He loves the way he takes care of his daughter. And they’re expecting a baby in September.
He also expects more interceptions: at least five this season.
As far as Johnson could tell, his previous interception failures weren’t due to anything he did wrong. It was as if his karma was out of control.
And then 2023 happened.
“He looked great walking around last year,” says Mooney, who considers Johnson a brother. “He had a nice energy whenever you were around him.”
Johnson says he wasn’t doing anything different on the field. “What changed is that God gave me opportunities,” he says.
He thinks he knows why.
“When you have your mind and spirit at a certain level, the physical takes over and doors start to open,” he says. “As I was trying to improve who I am as a man, suddenly the things I hoped for happened.”
(Illustration: John Bradford / Atletico; photo: Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
