LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Cornerback Jaylon Johnson strolled into the Bears’ reorganized locker room at Halas Hall, fist-bumped reporters and made his way to his new stall, where he was engulfed by the media.
Will he play Monday night against the Minnesota Vikings?
“I’m doing everything I can to play,” Johnson said Tuesday. “I know I had a good workout this morning, so I’m feeling good, probably the best I felt all offseason – well, training camp, per se – but just trying to do everything I can to be back.”
Johnson explained that he injured his groin going through his releases against receivers during his offseason training. He called it “a freak accident.”
“As far as the injury, same movement I’ve made plenty of times, and had a pretty bad, bad injury in my groin,” he said.
Johnson’s groin injury kept him out of training camp. But he said that he was hoping to be cleared Tuesday to return to practice.
“Really just depends on where my body’s at,” Johnson said. “Because again, I’ve been out for six weeks, so hopefully my body responds fairly quickly and I can feel good.”
Under new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, Johnson will be required to play press man coverage and potentially travel with the opponent’s best receiver. In Week 1, that’s Vikings superstar Justin Jefferson.
“For this game, it’s hard to say,” Johnson said. “I feel like it would be a situation where we had to figure out what that game plan looks like. But, I mean, as far as what I’ve been doing, I know I’ve been putting a lot of work outside the facility as well, so I’m confident in that.”
It’s hard for Johnson to say because he hasn’t practiced in full with his teammates yet. Step 1 is getting cleared.
“I felt that I knew I was going to be out some time because the amount of pain that I had and just the feeling that I had; I knew it was going to be out,” Johnson said. “So, it’s definitely been a journey, been frustrating, going in the training room to the weight room, back to the training room for six, seven, eight weeks now. So, I mean, for me, it’s just a mental test, but I’m coming out better.”
As for the placement of Johnson’s new locker-room stall, that’s something he worked out with coach Ben Johnson.
“They changed the locker room around,” Jaylon Johnson said.” I was stuck over there. That was when me and Ben started building our relationship. I had to make a call. I was like, ‘Hey, can I get a request?’ But he took care of me and got me right.”
