Jaylon Johnson is at the onset of just his third season at cornerback for the Bears, but it feels like he’s already seen everything.
He began as an understudy to former all-pro Kyle Fuller, the ultra-quiet, ever-serious lockdown corner. Last season, Johnson was left to fend for himself with a ragtag crew comprised mostly of practice-squad-level players.
And now, at only 23, it’s his time. As the Bears rebuild their secondary, they need Johnson to be a certainty. He’ll be handling the opponent’s top threat, for the most part, while the Bears try to develop the rest of the room — most notably, top draft pick Kyler Gordon.
It’s still early for Johnson, but this should be the perfect coalescence of his ascending talent and accruing experience — the start of his prime.
“It’s just one of those things that just happens by nature and really just seeing something over and over and over and over,” he said when asked how well he understands the game now, after 1,800 snaps, compared to when he debuted. “People ask, ‘How do you read this? How do you see this? How do you play that?’ And a lot of times my answer is [that] I’ve just seen it a lot of times.
“I just have a different feel. I remember releases. I remember formations, I just can’t explain it or categorize it really.”
It’s an internal database, and it includes detailed files on opposing quarterbacks and wide receivers.
He studies receivers constantly and already knows he’ll be tangling with some of the best this season. 49ers’ all-pro Deebo Samuel awaits him in Week 1, and stars like Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill and Stefon Diggs are on the list, too.
Johnson has never faced some of them — at least not, in real life. The fact there are still a dozen teams he has yet to play against underscores how young he is. But he’s memorized moves from endlessly replaying their videos, whether they’re from team-cut scouting clips or viral highlights circulating Twitter, and defended them in his mind countless times. He described it as an obsession.
“I get to a point where I have my mental imagery and I’ll just go throughout my house, eyes closed, working and seeing the movements and getting the timing down and imagining myself in front of them,” Johnson explained. “I’ve [gone] against those guys thousands of times within my own imagination.”
Nonetheless, Hill is far faster and Diggs far slipperier on the field than anything Johnson envisions while pantomiming in his kitchen. And while those two and several others on the schedule could overwhelm an average corner, the Bears are betting on Johnson rising to their level.
After him, there’s no doubt they’ll play Gordon as much as possible to accelerate his career. He’s working outside and at nickel. Johnson said he’s been surprisingly proficient for a rookie, and the coaching staff seems equally impressed.
From there, the hope is that the Bears can turn Kindle Vildor, Tavon Young, Duke Shelley and Thomas Graham into capable players. Some of them are Johnson’s age or older, but it’s clear he’s spearheading the group.
“My leadership role has increased 100%,” he said. “It’s really a combination of me and Eddie [Jackson] being able to control the safeties, control the corners and nickels and things like that.
“It’s really just more so leading by example and then gaining their trust. And then after that, I feel like we can all follow in one direction.”
The more he talks, and the more he plays, it’s clear Johnson is a guy the Bears’ cornerbacks should be following.
