Jaylon Lawrence Johnson (born April 19, 1999) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Early years

Johnson attended Central High School in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

. He played in the 2017 US Army All-American Bowl. He committed to the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

to play college football. Johnson also played basketball in high school.

College career

As a true freshman at Utah in 2017, Johnson played in 12 games and made two starts, recording 25 tackles and one

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

. He became a starter his sophomore year in 2018, starting all 14 games. He finished the season with 41 tackles, four interceptions and a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

. Johnson returned as a starter his junior year in 2019. Following a junior season where he had 10 pass breakups and was named to the First-team All-

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

, Johnson announced that he would forgo his senior season and declare for the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

Professional career

Johnson was drafted by the

with the 50th overall pick in the second round of the

. He signed a four-year rookie contract with the team on July 21. Johnson made his NFL debut in the Bears' Week 1 match up against the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. Johnson had six combined tackles and three passes defended, including a pass deflection in the endzone as time expired to secure the Bears' 27–23 comeback win. Johnson missed the Bears' final three games of the 2020 season due to a shoulder injury. Johnson finished his 2020 rookie season with 44 combined tackles, no interceptions, and 15 passes defended. The following season, Johnson became the Bears' top cornerback after former teammate

Kyle Fuller Kyle Brandon Fuller (born February 16, 1992) is an American football cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft and played college ...

was released in a salary cap move. On September 19, 2021, Johnson recorded his first career interception after he picked off a pass thrown by

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

quarterback

Joe Burrow Joseph Lee Burrow (born December 10, 1996) is an American football quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint with Ohio State, Burrow played college football at LSU, where he won the Heisma ...

. Through the first two weeks of the season, on all passes to players he was covering, Johnson only allowed one reception, while knocking down three attempts and intercepting a pass. This earned him the highest rated pass coverage grade (an advanced stat that measures the ability to cover receivers) in the league through that point. On November 25, Johnson recorded a career-high 6 tackles and forced a fumble in a 16–14 Thanksgiving Day win over the

. The Bears fired head coach

Matt Nagy Matthew Nagy ( or ; born April 24, 1978) is an American football coach, and former arena football quarterback, who is the senior assistant and quarterbacks coach for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was the head ...

after the 2021 season and hired

Matt Eberflus Matthew Charles Eberflus (born May 17, 1970) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts from 201 ...

, who implemented a 4-3 defensive scheme. Johnson did not attend the team's voluntary offseason training session, and was subsequently placed on the second team defense behind

Kindle Vildor Kindle Lee Vildor (born December 11, 1997) is an American football cornerback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia Southern and was drafted by the Bears in the fifth round of the 2020 ...

and Kyler Gordon. He reclaimed his starting position during the team's mandatory offseason workouts. Johnson was placed on injured reserve on December 23 after breaking his right ring finger. Eberflus confirmed Johnson could have potentially returned, but the team did not want to risk Johnson injuring his finger any further. He started in 11 games for the Bears in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, where he recorded seven pass defenses and a forced fumble.

References

External links

Utah Utes bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Jaylon 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Fresno, California Players of American football from California American football cornerbacks Utah Utes football players Chicago Bears players