Chicago Bears Rookie Stock Watch: Jaylon Johnson

The stock of the Chicago Bears 50th overall has been going in one direction this offseason

The Jaylon Johnson draft pick was exciting. The Chicago Bears have had a good run of drafting defensive players, and Jaylon Johnson was a stud on tape. He had an excellent combine, and many saw him as a first-round pick.

So, when he fell to the 50th overall pick, it looked as though the Chicago Bears had just found great value and a starting cornerback. Of course, the reason he fell to 50 came out to be that he had a shoulder injury that some teams questioned. Still, the Bears have had a good run of medical diagnoses from Bryce Callahan to Cam Meredith. You could assume they understood the risk.

The Bears may not be concerned long term, but they likely did not anticipate canceled OTAs and preseason. They also likely were caught off guard by Johnson not being ready to jump into action quite yet.

Johnson is still nursing his shoulder, and unfortunately, the Bears have hardly had time to get their hands on it. They have been helping him get back to form, but in the meantime, he is missing valuable time on the field.

This is time that can be missed if he were with the team throughout the summer and was on track to start all offseason. However, with a shortened offseason combined with a lack of experience,  you have a player unlikely to get on the field for week one.

Roquan Smith and Kyle Fuller took a few weeks to ramp up and get on the field, so missing week one will not be the death sentence to a great career for Johnson. However, over the past couple of months, his stock has dropped more than it has gone up.