A wave of one-year deals for former Bears defenders says it loud and clear: Chicago needed a defensive reset.
It was a magical 2025 season for the Chicago Bears—the beginning of a new era under Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams that should lead to many more winning seasons to come.
But just because the Bears are in the building stages as an organization doesn’t mean there won’t be turnover.
In fact, NFL free agency told us pretty clearly that the Bears are going to look like a much different team in 2026 than the one fans fell in love with in 2025, especially on defense.
In just the past week, the Bears have moved on from roughly half of their starting defense from that 2025 team, with the secondary in particular seeing a mass exodus.
Kevin Byard led the NFL in interceptions with seven in 2025, earning both Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors. While both sides expressed interest in a reunion, Chicago instead signed Coby Bryant to a three-year, $40 million deal. Byard ultimately landed with the New England Patriots, reuniting with Mike Vrabel on a one-year contract.
Fellow starting safety Jaquan Brisker signed a one-year, $5.5 million deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Another safety, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, joined the Buffalo Bills on a one-year, $3.5 million contract.
At cornerback, Nahshon Wright is coming off a breakout 2025 season that included a Pro Bowl nod, five interceptions, two forced fumbles, and 80 tackles. He signed a one-year deal worth up to $5.5 million with the New York Jets.
From the outside looking in—especially for those who didn’t watch the Bears closely in 2025—it’s easy to see this as a major step backward. Familiar names are leaving, and the assumption becomes that Chicago is losing key pieces.
In reality… the market tells the story better than anything else.
Byard, Brisker, Gardner-Johnson, Wright—even Jonathan Owens—all hit free agency and signed one-year deals.
With Byard, age is clearly a factor—he’ll be 33 when the season begins. But the rest? That’s where things get more telling.
If Nahshon Wright were truly the player casual fans think he is—if he were a devastating loss—he wouldn’t be settling for a one-year deal in that price range coming off a Pro Bowl season.
The truth is, Wright is a classic ball hawk. The interceptions and splash plays show up in the box score. The issues in man coverage don’t.
But if you watched the Bears’ defense down the stretch in 2025, you saw it. The 42 points allowed to the 49ers. Brock Purdy going for 300+ yards and three touchdowns. Joe Flacco lighting them up for 470 yards and four scores.
Wright could flip a game with a takeaway at any moment—and those plays absolutely helped Chicago win the NFC North. But snap to snap, he was also a liability.
Then there’s Jaquan Brisker—a former second-round pick who started every game in 2025 and is entering his age-27 season. On paper, that’s a player who should have had a stronger market. Instead, he gets a one-year deal. Why?
The concussion history still lingers, and even when he was on the field, the production was inconsistent. Brisker's market, or lack thereof, reflects that reality.
Gardner-Johnson has become a one-year mercenary at this stage of his career, and Jonathan Owens was primarily a special teams contributor.
So while it might look like the Bears’ defense got picked apart in free agency, that’s not really what happened. This wasn’t about what the Bears couldn’t do. It was about what they chose not to do.
They made a conscious decision to get younger, faster, and more reliable on defense. They identified the need for upgrades, particularly at the second level, and began addressing it immediately.
Coby Bryant and Cam Lewis are just the start. More help is coming—especially with the 2026 NFL Draft around the corner.
And if Bears fans need one final reminder of why Chicago was comfortable letting so many familiar names walk, just look at the contracts those players signed.
That tells you everything you need to know about how the rest of the league viewed the Bears’ defense in 2025.