Former Chicago Bears star makes Ben Johnson revelation

Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears lost a good one in Kevin Byard. After spending the past two seasons in Chicago, the three-time Pro Bowl safety decided to move on and take his talents elsewhere in NFL free agency. Byard put pen to paper on a one-year, $9 million deal with the defending AFC champions, the New England Patriots.

Byard bids farewell to the Bears after a memorable 2025 campaign. It was one of the best seasons in the former third-round pick’s 10 years in the NFL. Byard played all 17 regular-season games for Chicago, registering an NFL-best seven interceptions and 93 combined tackles (61 solo).

Byard was named to the All-Pro first team squad for the third time in his career.

Kevin Byard gets brutally honest about Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson

Byard recently spoke with NFL reporter Jordan Shultz about his move to New England. The 32-year-old also spoke openly about his time in Chicago. When asked about his experience under head coach Ben Johnson, Byard had nothing but good things to say about his former coach.

Byard also admitted, however, that out of his decade playing in the NFL, he experienced “the hardest training camp” under Johnson.

“I wasn’t expecting that from him,” Byard said. “… He was riling guys up like, ‘This is the black and blue division. It’s the NFC North.’”

Byard revealed that some of his teammates wanted him to talk to Johnson about how tough training camp was.

“I think it was fun in the point of guys coming in the locker room after practice like, ‘Bro, what just happened?’” Byard continued. “Certain guys coming, ‘KB, come on, Bruh, you’re captain. Bruh, you got to go talk to him.’ And I’m like, ‘Bro, what do you want me to say?’”

Kevin Byard says #Bears HC Ben Johnson put the team through the hardest training camp he ever experienced as an NFL player.

“When you look back at it, it was so worth it. We needed that tough training camp.” https://t.co/CEwLzh8UTK pic.twitter.com/THrad8WZ9g

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) March 20, 2026

Byard has no regrets, though. He conceded that training camp under Johnson was anything but a walk in the park, but Byard also knows that all their hard work paid off.

“But when you look back at it, it was so worth it,” Byard said. “Because I think how this season kind of went, how good we were in a run game, especially on offense. And I just think how it was on defense, we needed that tough training camp.

“I think anytime you’re trying to go somewhere you’ve never been, you have to do something you’ve never done. And I think that was kind of his mentality. Like, we’re going to dramatically change everything that’s been done here because it hasn’t worked.

“The camaraderie that’s built from it and the bonds that are built from it — because you just basically went through, you know, hell week, but it’s like two or three weeks of it with your boys.”

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