Bears' Jaylon Johnson: I'd rather sign new deal than explore free agency
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Star cornerback Jaylon Johnson says he would sign a new contract with the Chicago Bears instead of testing the free agent market if they made the right offer.
“I want to stay here,” Johnson said Wednesday. "I definitely want to get something done (here) first. But at the end of the day, if something doesn’t get done, then I’m not opposed to any other options. But I would love to stay here. So that’s that.”
Johnson, in the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, has been in a standoff all season with the Bears. He requested a trade before the Oct. 31 deadline.
Johnson has four interceptions this season. All have come in his past eight games, after he recorded one in his first 43 career appearances.
He acknowledged he's strengthened his bargaining position, saying he has “added some money to the value.”
Johnson was given the chance to shop around before the trade deadline and was surprised at the time that he didn't get dealt.
General manager Ryan Poles said then that he thought the two sides were close to a contract extension after an Oct. 29 meeting in Los Angeles, where the Bears played the Chargers. That changed the next day when Johnson’s representatives said they wanted to explore a trade.
“I just couldn’t see myself anywhere else,” Johnson said Wednesday. "It’s easy to say, oh, you want out of somewhere until you get it and then it’s like, ‘Ah, this may not be quite what I want.’ But I would say for me, I want to stay here and I want to not make that transition now. I feel like we’re building something special, too, especially with the guys in the locker room. I don’t think it’s something I can get anywhere else. I would like to stay and continue to build and make this better, and (expletive), I want to win some games and get to the playoffs and make a push with the Chicago name, too.”
The Bears, who host Arizona on Sunday, are last in the NFC North at 5-9. They blew a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead in a 20-17 loss at Cleveland last week after winning two in a row.
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