New reports suggest that the 49ers and Cowboys should trade for Jaylon Johnson
The 2023 NFL trade deadline is just over 24 hours away as Halloween could be a busy day around the league for teams. For the Chicago Bears, they are in a weird spot as they look to improve for the future but sit at 2-6 on the year. Meanwhile, a team like the San Francisco 49ers could be looking to add to make a run at the Super Bowl.
And one NFL columnist thinks the two could be connected in the trade market as things start to heat up before Tuesday’s deadline.
Michael Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote on the 40ers ahead of the deadline and mentioned Jaylon Johnson as a player the 49ers should target:
If the 49ers can get a top-shelf cover corner like the Bears’ Jaylon Johnson, it would allow them to move Lenoir to the slot and upgrade the secondary. The current nickel corner, free-agent signee Isaiah Oliver, made some plays on Sunday but also struggled from the jump, trailing badly on Burrow’s first quarter touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd after dropping a potential interception earlier in the drive.
The 49ers are currently sitting at 5-3 but are considered one of the teams to beat in the NFC. It would make sense for them to get a top defensive back like Johnson to boost what is already one of the top defenses in the NFL.
Plus, Johnson is a California native, growing up in Fresno before playing his college football at Utah.
The 49ers aren’t the only team potentially in pursuit of Johnson, either. There’s also another report out that the Dallas Cowboys are looking to add to the secondary. With Trevon Diggs out for the season, the Cowboys need a defensive back to help lock down the back end of the defense and would make sense to trade for someone like Johnson.
Here is what Mike Fisher wrote on the report from Benjamin Albrecht on Johnson and the Cowboys:
Enter Chicago Bears starter Jaylon Johnson, a 24-year-old standout seeking a new contract. Word is Chicago has talked to him about a new deal. But short of that? perhaps the 2-6 Bears would be willing to trade the impending free agent and recoup assets now instead of potentially seeing him walk in the offseason.
And indeed, media colleague Benjamin Allbright is suggesting the Cowboys “have interest” in such a pursuit.
Not just SF.
Dallas and Buffalo too. https://t.co/wFdcb5GtRH
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) October 30, 2023
Do 49ers or Cowboys have a shot?
While the reports make the connections to the 49ers, Cowboys and Johnson, it’s not that easy.
Johnson has stated numerous times that he wants to stay in Chicago and get a long-term deal done with the franchise. However, that hasn’t happened yet and if the two sides can’t get it done, Chicago cant afford to let him hit free agency where he could leave for nothing.
The two sides have been in talks as recent as Monday per multiple reports. But Ryan Poles is going to have to make a decision one way or another on Johnson and the future of the defensive back with this team. We have seen in the past that no player is a guarantee to stay, with Poles trading Roquan Smith, Robert Quinn and Khalil Mack already.
But Johnson feels like a player the Bears should reward as a homegrown talent and keep him here for years to come on this defense.
Our prediction is that Johnson does stay in Chicago as the deadline passes this week. The bigger question would be whether or not the two sides actually get a deal done to keep him here for the long term.
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