Should Chicago Bears CB Jaylon Johnson follow Brandin Cooks?

One of the biggest keys to the Chicago Bears’ week three matchup with the Houston Texans will be how the team defends Brandin Cooks. The Bears’ secondary became predictable on Sunday as Aaron Rodgers made sure to avoid Jaylon Johnson, then target anyone they put Kyler Gordon on.

With Brandin Cooks, the Texans could do a similar thing and find ways to get him matched up on Gordon. When the Texans go to three wide receiver sets Cooks plays in the slot 26% of the time, per PFF. That means that he will be facing off against Gordon.

Beyond that, Cooks lined up on the right side 42% of the time, which means that he will be seeing Gordon or Kindle Vildor because that is the opposite side that Johnson plays.

That means that naturally based on the past two weeks the Texans will be moving Cooks away from Jaylon Johnson on 68% of the Texans’ offensive plays. When you consider the Texans may actually gameplan around Johnson, the other 32% could easily be moved into Cooks playing a lot more one side, or in the slot.

It brings up the question of whether the team should move Jaylon Johnson around. It is easy to avoid him when you have two other cornerbacks that teams are willing to test. You can essentially put your worst receiver on his side, have him run clear-out routes, then you can attack the rest of the field with Johnson out of the way.

It is too easy to scheme around. Johnson is having a good year, and not giving up a catch is great, but there may come a point where the team actually needs more out of Johnson. Johnson does not profile as a good slot cornerback, and that should not happen, but he can surely play both sides, right?

If a team consistently lines up their top threat on the opposite side, will he stay on that side, or will they start to move him with outside receivers? This would consistently get Vildor on secondary threats, and it would help Gordon on the outside as well. Beyond that, it makes their defense less predictable.