5 Chicago Bears who need to step up to keep their jobs
This Chicago Bears Player Must Step Up To Be Retained: Justin Jones, DT
Originally, I was going to put Nicholas Morrow here. Morrow signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Bears and I expected more from him after his 2019 and 2020 production with the Raiders. Morrow started to relay plays and wear the green dot on his helmet but lost that responsibility early on to Roquan Smith. His stats will look decent when said and done, but his production hasn’t been there. I can’t imagine he’s played well enough to be re-signed.
Instead of Morrow, I went with Justin Jones. Jones is in a similar spot to Cody Whitehair. He’s under contract for 2023 and his scheduled $7.4 million would be the third-highest salary on the team in 2023. Jones has had a solid season. I think he’s on the cusp of being retained despite the team being able to save $5.3 million (even more if a post-June 1 cut).
In his time in Matt Eberflus’ system, he has put together, two sacks, 31 combined (20 solos) tackles and eight tackles for loss. His QB pressures are actually a little lower than he had in 2021 with the Chargers. That’s not enough of a concern to think he doesn’t stick around next year. One area he’s seen a small increase is his pass deflections. He has four of them but has yet to have more than one in any other season.
Justin Jones hasn’t been great, but he hasn’t been bad either. If they land another solid defensive tackle to play next to him, Jones has the potential to be worth that $7.4 million.