Bryant’s absence creates a serious downside for Chicago, which has important questions on protection heading into the season. Per Aaron Schatz’s Protection-adjusted Worth Over Common (DVOA) metric, the Bears, who completed 2025 No. 29 in whole protection however first in turnovers pressured, are estimated to have the league’s worst protection in 2026 (h/t 2026 FTN Football Almanac).
Throughout the offseason, final yr’s beginning safeties Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker left in free company, as did fellow security C.J. Gardner-Johnson, cornerback Nick McCloud and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.
“You’re taking a protection that was dangerous, fortunate and simply all of its guys,” Bryan Knowles wrote for the 2026 Almanac, “and our mannequin goes to hate it.”
Bryant, who ranked No. 10 amongst safeties in protection DVOA a season in the past, would have been key to creating up for these losses, however the Bears will possible must depend on veteran free-agent signings Cameron Lewis, 29, and Xavier Woods, 31 as an alternative to play alongside 2026 first-round decide Dillon Thieneman within the defensive backfield.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin wrote on Monday concerning the imaginative and prescient Chicago had for Bryant upon signing him, noting, “The Bears banked on his velocity and expertise to raise the secondary whereas concurrently serving to develop Thieneman … who’s simply over a month from his first NFL begin.”
Bryant’s wage construction is one other destructive issue. Per Spotrac, Bryant has a manageable $5.96M cap quantity for 2026, however that grows to $17M in every of the 2 seasons after (2027, 2028), when he might be coming back from a yearlong layoff.
With Chicago’s protection already a obtrusive query, the onus will as soon as once more be on head coach Ben Johnson’s offense to guide the cost. The Bears improved by 7.7 factors per recreation in his first season and will must take one other leap to construct on the 11-6 end and NFC North title.
The impression of Bryant’s harm might be felt all season within the Windy Metropolis. He would have performed an enormous function on the unit, however his loss might be felt much more.
