Ben Johnson's mastery with offenses and at dealing with quarterbacks has apparently trickled down to the backup.
There's really no tangible evidence this is the case because Johnson has never had to start a backup quarterback as an offensive coordinator or as a head coach. Jared Goff started every game in Johnson's three Detroit seasons and last year Caleb Williams completed his second straight season with a full 17 starts.
However, Tyson Bagent keeps getting highly rated in offseason assessments of teams' quarterback rooms. It's easy to wonder if the reason is because at the combine Johnson had every one laughing with a comical response to questions about teams trying to trade for his backup. They couldn't actually be basing it on play, because Bagent had only four starts in his career and they came as a rookie. His results were very mixed.
Ben Johnson doesn’t want the Bears to trade QB Tyson Bagent but acknowledges that they have to do what’s best for the teamHe believes Bagent is one of the best 32 QBs in the NFL pic.twitter.com/OwGJVVYr8M— Lorin Cox (@CoxSports1) February 24, 2026Now CBS Sports' Zachary Pereles has produced his list of the top backup quarterbacks, a few days after Gilberto Manzano did it for Sports Illustrated. Just like Manzano did, Pereles has Bagent in the top 10. He is rated ninth in the CBS rankings while Manzano had Bangent seventh.
