Brad Biggs: Jaylon Johnson’s and Kyler Gordon’s Bears futures are at stake with neither currently on field
CHICAGO — The same holes the Chicago Bears defense had for much of last season have yet to be filled to this point in the offseason. Two weeks remain in the voluntary offseason program before mandatory minicamp June 9-11, and so far the Bears are missing 40% of their starting secondary — a situation they frequently were in last fall because of recurring injuries. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who was married at the beginning of May according to his Instagram account, has yet to report.
That’s not overly surprising given how he has operated. And nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon, who sources said wasn’t with the team at the outset of the offseason program, has since been out with a soft-tissue injury. Gordon missed 14 regular-season games in 2025 and had two stints on injured reserve with groin, hamstring and calf injuries that initially sidelined him in the first week of August.
Does that make it difficult for defensive backs coach Al Harris to envision what a rebuilt secondary — with two new safeties in free-agent signee Coby Bryant and first-round pick Dillon Thieneman — will look like? “I haven’t thought about it that way,” Harris said Thursday. “The way that I look at it is whoever is out there, get them to the football.
” Injuries in May are no reason to panic with the regular season 3 1/2 months away and training camp roughly two months off. Soft-tissue injuries have kept Gordon off the field during the offseason and training camp in previous years, and before 2025 he was relatively durable, with most of his games lost due to other injuries (broken hand, concussion). But the Bears are more than four months removed from the end of their playoff run, and Gordon is back where he spent the majority of last season: trying to get back on the field.
“It’s disappointing,” coach Ben Johnson said in December after the Bears placed Gordon on IR for the second time. “I wish I had a better feel for the individual, but with him being out as much as he has, I haven’t really gotten to see him on the field and competing to get to know him like I’d like to. ” Obviously the coaching staff hoped that learning process would pick up this spring, and while there’s still time, it would be surprising if frustration levels haven’t ticked up.
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