{"id":720032,"date":"2026-01-31T22:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T22:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/720032\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T22:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T22:07:15","slug":"bears-predicted-to-re-sign-this-key-defensive-free-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/720032\/","title":{"rendered":"Bears predicted to re-sign this key defensive free agent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jan. 31, 2026, 2:15 p.m. CT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The <a href=\"\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Chicago Bears<\/a> have some important decisions to make about in-house free agents this offseason, including some defensive backs who played key roles in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Safeties Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker, as well as cornerback Nahshon Wright, are all slated to hit free agency in March, leaving the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/chicago-bears\/326\" data-autotag=\"69c69e75-f807-4542-90d2-619e6d4a23b1\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Bears<\/a> with some key holes to fill. Chicago will likely consider re-signing one, possibly more, of their in-house free agents, but it&#8217;s hard to see them keeping all three of their key defensive backs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nfl\/news\/landing-spots-nfls-top-50-free-agents-george-pickens\/\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CBS Sports&#8217; Zachary Pereles<\/a> predicts the Bears will re-sign Wright in free agency after his breakout season in 2025, pairing him with Jaylon Johnson for the short-term future.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_gl gnt_em__el\" href=\"http:\/\/bearswire.usatoday.com\/picture-gallery\/sports\/nfl\/bears\/2026\/01\/18\/bears-rams-photos-divisional-loss\/88249358007\/\" data-t-l=\"\u2691g:l|l|c|view gallery:inline promo\" aria-label=\"View Gallery - Bears vs. Rams: Photos from Chicago&#039;s heartbreaking divisional loss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img class=\"gnt_em_gl_i\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769897234_213_88247563007-2256958392.jpg\" data-gl- decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"372\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;Wright was one of the most surprising breakouts of the 2025 season,&#8221; wrote Pereles. &#8220;After one interception in four seasons, he had five in his only campaign with the Bears and added two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Bears have some pressing needs on defense, most notably along the defensive line and safety. While Wright has made it clear he&#8217;d like to return to Chicago, we&#8217;ll see if they can afford to bring him back after he certainly earned a pay day after his Pro Bowl season.<\/p>\n<p>Need a news break? <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (play)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/play.usatoday.com\/?itm_source=SPIKE&amp;itm_campaign=PLAYSPIKE&amp;itm_medium=ONSITE\">Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Pereles also mentioned the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/minnesota-vikings\/347\" data-autotag=\"839728ed-97f0-4c7c-9ea6-299b7540514e\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Minnesota Vikings<\/a>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/los-angeles-rams\/343\" data-autotag=\"f489e821-d3f9-4cff-bec5-7eaa0f4b51cb\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Los Angeles Rams<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/jacksonville-jaguars\/365\" data-autotag=\"0e187629-debe-49e8-9e02-83bd36ad3fcc\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> as other potential landing spots for Wright.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_cp_cw_i\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769897235_381_86373428007-square-1.jpg\" data-gl- decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Follow Bears Wire on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheBearsWire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheBearsWire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bearswireusat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 31, 2026, 2:15 p.m. CT The Chicago Bears have some important decisions to make about in-house free&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[95878,374,692,391,2493,7,9499,6,96893,96894,95882,96727,96089,95893,96324,95936,96913,96905,95924,95988,96906,95895,95899,95883,95894,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-720032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-bears","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bears","12":"tag-chicagobears","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sstssportsnflbears","17":"tag-sstsnbears","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagchicago","20":"tag-tagchicago-bears","21":"tag-tagfacebook","22":"tag-taginstagram","23":"tag-tagjacksonville-jaguars","24":"tag-tagjaquan-brisker","25":"tag-tagjaylon-johnson","26":"tag-taglos-angeles-rams","27":"tag-tagminnesota-vikings","28":"tag-tagnahshon-wright","29":"tag-tagnfl-hub","30":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","31":"tag-tagsports-news","32":"tag-tagtwitter","33":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115991992538188762","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}