Jaylon Johnson shares candid reaction to former teammate Justin Fields being traded to Steelers

While Jaylon Johnson will remain with the Chicago Bears, Justin Fields won’t. The Bears finalized a trade to send the former Ohio State standout to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In return, the Bears received a conditional 2025 sixth-round pick.

While they play on opposite sides of the ball, the 2023 Second Team All-Pro cornerback expressed his thoughts on the Fields trade during his March 20 appearance on FanDuel TV’s Up & Adams. Johnson shared with Kay Adams:

“Honestly, I feel like I’ll have some time to kind of digest it... I kind of started preparing for it when the speculation, when the questions weren’t kind of like shut down on considerations of trading him.”

The Bears selected Justin Fields 11th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. However, they gave up a massive haul of picks to get in position to select the 2019 Second Team All-American quarterback. Chicago gave up its 2021 first—and fifth-round selections and 2022 first—and fourth-rounders to acquire the New York Giants’ first-round pick.

While his capability in running the ball is unquestioned, his throwing accuracy needs work. In three years with the Bears, Fields completed 60.3 percent of his throws. He improved in 2023 to 61.4 percent. However, missing four games might have helped increase his 2023 stats.

Johnson added in his conversation with Adams:

“I was kind of preparing myself for the worst. 'Okay, let’s just already process Justin being traded.’ I think even just having that last little bit of hope, still something that I held on to a little bit but then when you actually see it, it’s like ‘damn, my dawg isn’t going to be with us.’”

Though the Bears said goodbye to Fields, the team had an impressive offseason, adding talented pieces around their starting quarterbacks.

They signed D’Andre Swift to a three-year, $24 million deal and added tight end Gerald Everett to a two-year contract. The Bears were not done after trading for wideout Keenan Allen for a fourth-round pick.

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Justin Fields can compete for the Steelers’ starting quarterback position

The Steelers cleaned house at quarterback after trading Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles, releasing Mitchell Trubisky, and allowing Mason Rudolph to sign with the Tennessee Titans.

Taking one of their spots is Russell Wilson, who joined Pittsburgh on a one-year veteran minimum ($1.2 million) contract. However, while he has more extensive experience than Justin Fields, the younger quarterback will compete for the top spot when the Steelers commence training camp in July.