Chicago Bears: former 4th round pick named as likely cut candidate as training camp looms

Interestingly, one of the players that Bleacher Report thinks could be released by Chicago during training camp is Roschon Johnson, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract:

“Roschon Johnson has been a major letdown for the Chicago Bears ever since landing with the club as a fourth-rounder in the 2023 draft. His disappointing trajectory could lead to his release this offseason.

“While Johnson showed some glimpses of talent during his rookie campaign—finishing with 352 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 81 carries—he’s gone on to regress in back-to-back seasons. Johnson managed to score a career-high six touchdowns on the ground in 2024, but still averaged an abysmal 2.7 yards per carry on his 55 totes.

“With Johnson rarely seeing the field and getting relegated mostly to special teams work in the seven games he was active for last year, it would be hard to fault the Bears for moving on from the running back. Johnson logged a mere two carries and didn’t see a single target in 2025.”

There is no argument that Johnson has been a disappointment overall. He certainly very well could be one of the players that the Bears let go when they trim their roster.

But the thing is that BR’s premise is that he is one of the players they believe will be a cap casualty. That is, they think he will be cut so that Chicago can save some salary cap money. And while he has no guaranteed money left on his contract, he also is on his rookie deal. This means he does not have a very high cap number anyway.

If Johnson is going to be released by the Bears, it will be because he gets out-performed by the other running backs on their roster; not because of his cap number.