Remember all of the reports and speculation last year ahead of the annual NFL trade deadline concerning the Pittsburgh Steelers possibly entertaining a trade for Chicago Bears CB Jaylon Johnson? Regardless of whether the Steelers had interest in trading for Johnson or not, it obviously didn’t happen, and the veteran cornerback finished out the 2023 season with Chicago. With the offseason now underway, several fans of the Steelers will obviously be watching what happens with Johnson closely in the coming weeks and especially with him currently scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in March.
While taking part in the 2023 Pro Bowl games this week, Johnson addressed his immediate future and within that, he had a few interesting things to say.
“Heart’s definitely in Chicago, mind’s definitely on the money,” Johnson reportedly told NFL.com at Saturday’s Pro Bowl practice. “So, I mean, we’ll figure out if we can make them both come together and get something done. I’m looking forward to see what’s to come.”
So, what does all of that mean? In short, Johnson is wanting to get paid big money this offseason and quite honestly, he deserves to be and likely will be after the offseason smoke clears.
Now, before we move forward when it comes to Johnson possibly being a member of the Steelers this offseason, I need to point out that the Bears are very likely to place the franchise tag on their star cornerback in the coming weeks. As things stand this far out, the projected franchise tag number for cornerbacks in 2024 is $18.421 million, according to Over the Cap, who currently have the Bears projected as being well over $46 million under the cap for the coming season.
Assuming that Johnson receives the franchise tag from the Bears, the two sides would then likely begin serious work on a long-term contract agreement. Potentially one that would result in the cornerback being the highest paid at his position in the NFL. Currently, that honor goes to Green Bay Packers CB Jaire Alexander at $21 million per year on average. That honestly has to be Johnson’s offseason goal at this point.
What would happen if the Bears tag Johnson and they can’t get a new deal done with him for whatever reason, especially ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft? Should such a scenario transpire, the Bears could obviously look to trade Johnson for a very nice return, which would likely include a high draft pick or two.
If the Bears ultimately did decide to tag and trade Johnson, whichever team ultimately acquired the cornerback would first need to be able to accommodate his franchise tender amount, which once again is expected to be in the neighborhood of $18.421 million. The closer it gets to the 2024 NFL Draft, the more challenging it will be for several teams to do that, including the Steelers. Now, the Steelers, and really any NFL team for that matter, could obviously massage their own salary cap situation enough to acquire Johnson while wearing the franchise tag, but how many will really want to?
If indeed Johnson were acquired by a team via trade post-franchise tagging, the acquiring team would obviously then have the onus of working out a contract extension at that point with the cornerback. Assuming he wants to be one of the top-three highest paid cornerbacks in the NFL this offseason, and assuming he will likely want, at a minimum, the first three years of his new contract fully guaranteed, that could be a problem for a team such as the Steelers. Especially when it comes to their history of dealing with extremely high-priced outsiders during an offseason.
Once again, we are not talking about impossible circumstances when it comes to the Steelers because if they really, really want the player, they can make it work and that includes satisfying contract needs. That said, them jumping through all the necessary hoops to acquire Johnson and satisfying his contract needs after doing so certainly seem highly unlikely.
Johnson, by the way, made it known on Saturday at the Pro Bowl games in Orlando, FL that he believes he is one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks entering this offseason and why he deserves to be rewarded for that between now and the start of the 2024 regular season.
“No doubt. No doubt,” Johnson said when asked if he believed he had established himself as one of the NFL’s best corners right now. “I think just, like I was saying, just through my career, just continuing to get better, continuing to get better.”
A little less than a month ago, Bears general manager Ryan Poles addressed Johnson’s pending offseason situation during his year-end press conference. At that time, Poles indicated that the Bears had no plans to let Johnson hit free agency this offseason.
“We have really good communication,” Poles said. “The big thing was to take a break here after the season. We’ll start talks again. We feel really good about the situation. Jaylon is not going to go anywhere.”
Quite honestly, I will be surprised if Johnson is not a member of the Bears come Week One of the 2024 regular season. Should, however, Johnson wind up on another team this offseason, I will be quite surprised if that other team winds up being the Steelers. We’ll have to wait and see how all of this ultimately plays out this offseason with Johnson but as for now, I take his comments from Saturday about his future as more of him posturing his overall value to the Bears.
The Steelers will have a cornerback depth issue to handle this offseason just the same as Levi Wallace, Chandon Sullivan, and James Pierre are all scheduled to become unrestricted free agents in March. Additionally, it will be interesting to see if the Steelers decide to retain veteran CB Patrick Peterson this offseason as he’s due a March roster bonus of $3 million to go along with a scheduled 2024 base salary of $3.85 million. How they navigate that position group during the offseason will be interesting to watch for sure.
In closing, would Johnson fit in Pittsburgh? Absolutely he would and it’s no wonder that so many fans of the team are hoping that the Steelers somehow find a way to make that happen. While I would love to see that happen as well, I really doubt such a thing will ultimately come to fruition. In my honest opinion, Johnson’s best shot at being a Steeler likely passed at last year’s NFL trade deadline.
