Kyler Gordon was supposed to be a central part of the Chicago Bears‘ rebuild. He was general manager Ryan Poles’ first draft pick. His mixture of athleticism and physicality made for a great nickel corner in the NFL’s evolving defensive era. For stretches of time, he lived up to the hype, playing with excellent range and instincts. It was enough to earn him a lucrative contract extension. However, even during his best seasons, there were always signs of health problems. Gordon has never played a full 17-game season in his career.
However, 2025 was by far his worst. The cornerback missed 14 games with various injuries, all of the soft tissue variety. It’d be one thing if he were enduring the bad luck of a knee, Achilles, or other such setbacks that are difficult to prevent. Soft tissue injuries are typically a sign of someone who isn’t conditioned properly. So you can imagine the frustration when Gordon missed all of OTAs and minicamps with another injury. Fans were growing frustrated. It’s always something with him.
So imagine the reaction when the Bears announced that Gordon would go on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list before the start of training camp.
Kyler Gordon should be thankful for his new contract.
Since it’s still so new, he is protected by the guarantees owed to him. The Bears can’t cut him because it’d result in a massive $14 million cap penalty. Otherwise, there is a strong likelihood that head coach Ben Johnson would’ve cut the cord by now. He already expressed clear frustration with Gordon’s availability after last season. One can probably guess his mood upon learning the cornerback was going to miss at least the first few days of training camp as well. Johnson has little patience for players uselessly occupying roster spots.
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It hurts even more because the Bears don’t really have a notable name on the roster who can play nickel cornerback. Tyrique Stevenson and Terell Smith are strictly boundary cornerbacks. Rookie 4th round pick Malik Muhammad got some work in the slot during spring practices, so he might be someone the Bears are looking at. Do you consider moving Jaylon Johnson inside? It’s possible, but that feels like a desperation move and taking your best player away from his natural position.
Gordon’s future doesn’t look great.
Unless he somehow returns for most of camp and plays the majority of the games this season, it is difficult to imagine the Bears keeping him around another year. It has reached a point where they just can’t trust him. This has nothing to do with his talent or effort. It is about his availability. It’s the Mike Brown situation all over again. He is a great player when on the field. He just wasn’t on the field enough. Sooner or later, you have to accept reality and move on. Gordon is backed up to his 1-yard line now, and he needs to score a touchdown.
Next offseason, the Bears can unload his contract with a post-June 1st designation. It would only create $800,000 in cap space and saddle them with $12.5 million in dead money, but it would at least get an expensive player off the roster. Poles has already shown in the past that he doesn’t mind taking big dead money hits if it benefits the organization in the long run. There is a strong probability we’ll have an answer to all of these questions by midseason at the latest.
