Bears make expected Jaylon Johnson decision official but the long-term outlook for a potential return in 2025 is still in question
Options are still being considered.
Leading up to the Week 3 kickoff against the Dallas Cowboys, the Chicago Bears have made an expected decision official with Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson.
NFL insider Ian Rapoport announced on Saturday that Johnson will be going on the injured reserve. It’s worth noting this is the four-week IR designation, not a season-ending designation. However, Johnson is expected to be out indefinitely well beyond a four-game window.
After the fourth game, the Bears can open up the 21-day evaluation window for Johnson to return to practice. If he’s not activated during that 21 day window which can start on October 26th, he will be placed on season-ending IR.
Johnson missed all of training camp after suffering a groin injury training outside of the facility. After missing Week 1’s contest, Johnson returned to the lineup in Week 2 but left the game early after re-injuring his groin.
“The other side of the top of it was compromised. And now that’s kind of what is affected now. So, it’s kind of everything as a whole in that region needs to get repaired,” Johnson explained. “I’m trying to figure out where I want to go from there, of course the time trying to see what’s the best option, who’s the best option, what that looks like, the timelines and things like that.”
Long-term outlook is still in question with surgery still an option
“We’re still working through that,” head coach Ben Johnson told reporters when asked out Johnson’s long-term status. “We’ve had some opinions on [the injury].”
The main decision being weighed his whether or not Johnson will need to undergo surgery to fix the injury, which would obviously put him on the shelf for much longer.
“I would definitely say I’m trying to figure out what’s the best move long term. Because I feel like you don’t want this to keep happening, of course,” Johnson said. “Now that there’s more damage to that area, it’s like how much do you want to try to push through before you go get it?
“Even if it does work till November and then I get hurt, now you’re pushing surgery back until November/December. There’s certainly things you can do and there’s no right or wrong answer. Just really, what’s in the best interest first and foremost for myself and then for the team after that.”
In the meantime, injuries continue to stack up at the cornerback room. Nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon and reserve cornerback Jaylon Jones are each out for Week 3 with hamstring injuries and Terell Smith is already out for the year.
As it stands, Chicago has four healthy cornerbacks on the active roster. Following this move with Johnson, the Bears used the open roster spot to sign DE Tanoh Kpassagnon from the practice squad onto the 53-man roster. Kpassagnon was elevated for each of the last two games with one sack.
Chicago also placed offensive lineman Kiran Amegadjie on the injured reserve with an elbow injury suffered this week in practice. He will be out for a minimum four weeks, thus opening up one roster spot.
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It’s the correct decision to make.
