Bears News: Johnson on trades for guards Jonah Jackson, Joe Thuney and signing Grady Jarrett

Kirby Lee - USA Today Sports

Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - 5 hours ago

CHICAGO—It has been less than two months since the Chicago Bears hired Ben Johnson as their next head coach, and the team has already experienced significant changes. Chicago made some bold trades to acquire offensive guards Jonah Jackson and All-Pro Joe Thuney and signed Pro-Bowl defensive lineman Grady Jarrett.

Johnson immediately prioritized the offensive line after Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked 68 times last season. The interior was of particular concern since Chicago frequently had problems with missed blocks. The offensive line also struggled mightily in the running game.

That is why when Johnson was looking for new interior offensive linemen, he wanted tough and gritty players.

“We want some tough, some gritty, some dirty individuals and we feel pretty good about the two guys we got. Smart is a word that comes to mind, particularly with the interior players. We (love) to have some versatility to our scheme, some multiplicity if you will, and so, we got a couple guys in the building now that we feel strongly can handle a variety of different concepts and schemes that we might want to employ each and every week,” Johnson said. “Beyond that, their play speaks for themselves in terms of what the tape says. The character, the integrity, it’s top-notch. I can speak first-hand with Jonah and (general manager) Ryan (Poles) can speak first-hand with Joe. I’m really excited to get these guys in the room combined with the coaches that we’ve already put together for that room. I feel really good about the style of play we’ll have this year.”

A high level of intelligence was also a necessary attribute in any offensive linemen the Bears were going to trade for or sign. Jackson had a bit of a down season last year and was subsequently benched. However, his lone Pro Bowl season occurred during Ben Johnson’s time with the Detroit Lions. Thuney has also displayed a high level of intelligence, although his production as of late is a bit different from Jackson’s.

Thuney has consistently been one of the top guards in the NFL in the last few seasons including being a first-team All-Pro in 2023 and 2024, as well as playing No. 10 in Offensive Player of the Year voting last year.

“The intelligence factor is a major portion of it because they got to be able to handle different fronts for all these variety of schemes that we would like to employ. At the end of the day, we’ll push this thing as far as we feel the collective group can handle up front and that’s where the intelligence is so important to expand on that variety. If we get really good at particular types of blocks, that’s what we’re going to feature. So, we’re not going to try to do something that doesn’t make sense. But, we have two extremely well-rounded individuals here,” Johnson said. “Feel really good about (right tackle) Darnell (Wright), (left tackle) Braxton (Jones), the rest of the group that’s in that room right now and how that thing could look in terms of the combinations, getting movement at the line of scrimmage, plays on the defense’s line side of the ball and that’s particular for the run game. Up front, though, in the passing game, we have to be better from a pass-protection standpoint and we really prioritize guys that are going to win one-on-one battles with a three technique and we feel like both these guys are capable of that.” - Ben Johnson

Defensively, Johnson was instrumental in Chicago signing free agent defensive lineman Grady Jarrett to a three-year, $43 million contract with $28.5 million guaranteed. Despite being just under 32 years old, Jarrett had a strong campaign last season with 12 quarterback hits and nine tackles for loss.

He was also able to play in every game, a critical element for a team like Chicago that had numerous injuries last season.

“(Jarrett) is a guy for a number of years now that’s played at a fantastically high level. This guy is outstanding. You feel his presence. He’s a guy you have the game planned for when you go against him … He’s relentless. He’s passionate about what he does. Just talking to him today gave me goosebumps because this guy loves football and he’s going to bring that element to the team,” Johnson said. “All three of these guys (Jackson, Thuney and Jarrett), they’ve been in the playoffs. They’ve won playoff games. Joe, in particular, has won Super Bowls. It does rub off to the rest of the locker room because we’re going to define what it’s going to look like in terms of our meeting process, our walkthrough process, our practice habits, what it looks like off the field because that all translates to winning on the field. All three of these guys have done that at a high level.”

Chicago most likely is not done making moves. With the contracts of Jackson, Thuney, Jarrett, center Drew Dalman and tight end Durham Smythe, the Bears do not have enough cap space to sign their draft. Thus, they will surely be releasing other players currently on the roster.