Jaylon Johnson was named to the AP All-Pro as a second team member. While this is a great honor that will go a long way in helping his market value for his next contract, it is hard to look at the acclaim as a bit of a disappointment. By almost all accounts, Jaylon Johnson had a year that was worthy of first-team All-Pro consideration.
Jaylon Johnson should have been first-team All-Pro for the Chicago Bears
DaRon Bland had nine interceptions and returned a couple for touchdowns, which is going to make his case a lot easier. Still, Jaylon Johnson had four interceptions, including a pick-six on his own end. More than that, Bland was targeted 89 times, 6.1 per snap, while Johnson was targeted 50 times, 10.1 per snap. So, teams were coming at Bland far more often, giving him more chances at big plays.
Bland has allowed 689 yards, 1.16 yards per coverage snap, while Johnson is at 0.36 yards per coverage snap. So, with Bland, you get the good and the bad. With Johnson, sure, you did not get as much good, but you got nearly none of the bad.
Sauce Gardner has very similar metrics to Jaylon Johnson when it comes to yards, targets, and snaps per each allowed. Johnson is slightly better, but Gardner has such a stronger tracker record that it makes sense why they would give him the nod if all things are even. However, they are not.
This is where Johnson has the big plays on him. His four interceptions and one pick-six is much better than Sauce Gardner, who has zero.
So, to recap, Johnson has better coverage numbers than Bland and better turnover and big play numbers than Gardner. He has better coverage numbers than Gardner as well, and his big play numbers are only not as good as Bland's because teams do not throw his way as often.
You can debate Bland or Garnder to join Johnson, but it is hard not to rank Johnson over both.