The Chicago Bears signed Jaylon Johnson to a team-friendly contract extension in some regards. Johnson gets the long-term security for sure, but the All-Pro had a chance to set the market but only came away averaging $19M annually, which is eighth among cornerbacks.
Did he take less for the Chicago Bears? One detail that is worth looking into is the fully guaranteed money. Johnson got $43.8M, which is the third most among cornerbacks. This may have helped get him over the edge, and for the Chicago Bears, it was an obvious decision.
If the team was not going to extend Johnson this offseason, there was a chance they would have to franchise tag him again next year. That would come in at 120% of his current tag number. So, if the Bears just played out the franchise tag for the next two years, he would be on the books for $43.56M over two years. Now, with the guaranteed salary, he is guaranteed to get $43.8M.
The Chicago Bears gave Jaylon Johnson enough guaranteed money to get an extension done
So, the Chicago Bears will give him a signing bonus that will smooth the cap hits over the first couple of years. This will be a much easier hit to take than the franchise tag in year one. As the cap goes up, the salary of Johnson will not get unbearable because the team got him at below the market rate, and he does not have unprecedented salary numbers moving forward. However, Johnson will get the $43.56M in cash that he was supposed to get if he had just played out the franchise tag, with about $300K on top of that.
The Chicago Bears guaranteeing that much should be a no-brainer if they planned to use the tag again, and that may have been what got the deal done.