The Chicago Bears have picked up former Green Bay Packers safety Anthony Johnson Jr. as they get ready for organized team activities next week. Johnson was originally drafted in the seventh round by the Packers in 2023, playing 12 regular-season games as a rookie before being waived by Green Bay at the roster cutdown deadline in 2024.
Johnson was picked with the selection that the Packers received for their trade of offensive lineman Cole Van Lanen. Due to injuries, Johnson started four games as a rookie,
playing a total of 303 defensive snaps and 57 special teams snaps in 2023. Since that season, he’s played 21 defensive snaps and 113 special teams snaps, all with the New York Giants in 2024.
The Giants picked Johnson up off waivers in 2024, following his release from Green Bay. Last year, he was waived by New York in July with a failed physical but was later placed on the injured reserve after clearing waivers. With a new set of Giants decision makers in 2026, Johnson was waived by the team in March and was not claimed.
Johnson will likely compete for a lower-end roster spot in Chicago, considering that the Bears signed both Coby Bryant and Cam Lewis in free agency and drafted Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman in the first round of the 2026 draft.
6 of the Packers’ 13 players from the 2023 draft remain in Green Bay: Lukas Van Ness, Luke Musgrave, Jayden Reed, Tucker Kraft, Karl Brooks and Carrington Valentine. Two others, Colby Wooden and Dontayvion Wicks, were traded this offseason. The other five — Johnson, Sean Clifford, Anders Carlson, Lew Nichols III and Grant DuBose — were released by Green Bay before their rookie contracts had expired.
