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New Bears cornerback Anthony Johnson Jr.

The Chicago Bears are signing a former Green Bay Packers draft pick to their safety room in a series of roster moves ahead of next week’s start to OTAs.

According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, the Bears are signing former Packers safety Anthony Johnson Jr. — a 2023 seventh-round pick — to their 90-man offseason roster after the 26-year-old missed the entire 2025 regular season with an undisclosed injury.

“A former 7th-round pick, Johnson has 29 career tackles and an INT, but missed last season due to an injury,” Schultz wrote May 20 on X. “He’s now healthy and ready to go.”

Earlier on May 20, Schultz had also reported that the Bears were signing former Miami Dolphins running back Salvon Ahmed, another player who missed 2025 due to injury.

The Bears have not yet announced either Johnson’s or Ahmed’s signing, but both are expected to appear in the NFL’s daily transaction report on Thursday, May 21 — so long as both players pass their physicals and officially put pen to paper on their contracts.

Anthony Johnson Jr. Fizzled Out Quickly With Packers

Johnson started in four of his 12 games during his 2023 rookie season with the Packers, tallying one interception, three pass deflections and 24 tackles on 303 defensive snaps. He fell out of favor with the Packers in 2024, though, when the team signed star Xavier McKinney in free agency and selected Javon Bullard and Evan Williams in the draft.

With a stronger safety room, the Packers ended up waiving Johnson during roster cuts before his second season in the NFL. The New York Giants claimed him off waivers, but his new opportunity did not come with many defensive opportunities. He played just 21 total defensive snaps to 113 special teams snaps over nine games for the Giants in 2024.

If there was a chance for redemption for Johnson, he didn’t stay healthy enough to seize it. He landed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list with the Giants at the start of 2025’s training camp and did not come off the list until after the season in February.

Bears Have Reloaded Safety Position for 2026 Season

Johnson will now enter the mix to compete for one of the depth spots in the Bears’ new-look safety rotation that will feature two new starters during the 2026 regular season.

The Bears allowed both of their 2025 starting safeties — Kevin Byard III and Jaquan Brisker — to sign elsewhere in free agency, but they didn’t sit on their hands. Instead, they signed former Seattle Seahawks veteran Coby Bryant to a three-year, $40 million contract and used their No. 25 overall pick on drafting Oregon star Dillon Thieneman.

There isn’t much question about which safeties the Bears plan to start in 2026, but the depth spots are seemingly all available. The Bears re-signed Elijah Hicks as a backup with special teams experience, but he will be fighting for his spot along with veteran Cam Lewis, Johnson and standout UDFA Skyler Thomas when training camp arrives.

While Johnson is the newcomer, the situation is ripe for a shakeup — if Johnson can put his undisclosed 2025 injury behind him and hoist his NFL career back onto the tracks.