Chicago Bears safety Jaquan Brisker is facing a pivotal offseason.
After suffering a concussion in Week 5, the Bears ultimately placed Brisker on season-ending injured reserve, setting the stage for a make-or-break 2025 campaign for the star safety who is entering the final year of his rookie contract.
Since arriving in Chicago, after being chosen by the Bears in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, out of Penn State, brisker has posted 249 total tackles with six sacks and three interceptions while emerging as one of the more respected leadership voices on the defense.
However, Brad Biggs of The Chicago Tribune suggests that Brisker’s days in a Bears uniform could be numbered.
“Brisker will be entering the final year of his rookie contract,” Biggs writes. “And it’s an important season for him. He has been OK when he’s on the field. Maybe he’ll flourish with new coaching. You never know what will happen, but safety is one of the easier positions to find replacements and you don’t really want to invest big money there unless you have a special player.”
It sure sounds like Biggs believes that Brisker isn’t the caliber of player worth committing top dollar to, despite the 25-year-old’s production and status within the Bears’ locker room.
If the Bears allow Brisker, who by all accounts is an ascending player at the position, to walk out of the building, Chicago could be risking a similar fate to the New York Giants not re-signing Xavier McKinney, who went on to become a potential First-Team All-Pro selection in Green Bay after signing with the Packers on the first day of free agency last spring.
General manager Ryan Poles and the Bears are projected to have upwards of $83.3 million in 2025, and $221.5 million in 2026, according to Spotrac, so, money would be no hurdle to keeping one of Chicago’s top draft picks and key defenders in place for the next several seasons.
Allowing Brisker to walk could prove to be a costlier miscalculation than signing him to a lucrative long-term extension as one of the defense’s building blocks.
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