The Bears hoped they were getting an instant starter when they spent a second-round draft pick on cornerback Jaylon Johnson, and the process of figuring out whether he’s ready for that has accelerated.
Any thought of bringing Johnson along gradually was dashed when his main competitor for the job, Artie Burns, went on Injured Reserve with a torn ACL suffered the second day of practice. He’s the clear leader now, and there’s not an ounce of hesitation as he pushes to lock down his spot in the next two weeks.
“I’ve always felt like I was ready,” Johnson said Thursday. “I feel like everything I have worked for and been doing all these years just came to pass and now that I am here, I feel like I am ready. I still have my mistakes to get out of the way, but physically, I feel like I’m ready.”
While Burns was getting a shot to win job and it hurts to lose any cornerback depth, his exit speeds up something the want anyway.
In a year when they had just two draft picks out of the top 150, great thought went into using the No. 50 slot to take Johnson. They intend for him to be a running mate for two-time Pro Bowler Kyle Fuller in the short term and eventually replace him as their No. 1 corner.
The Bears also have steady 10-year veteran Buster Skrine at corner but are likely to keep him underneath covering slot receivers.
The first test was for Johnson to beat out Burns, a former first-rounder who flamed out in Pittsburgh, and third-year corner Kevin Toliver. Toliver got just 16 percent of the defensive snaps last season with nearly all of them coming in the final month. He said Thursday he was “motivated a lot” by the team drafting Johnson.
“It’s just a competition thing,” Toliver said. “I’m not afraid of competition.”
