Coby Bryant leaving for big Bears bucks. A Seahawks in-house replacement?
A player Mike Macdonald loved in the back of his Super Bowl-champion defense won’t be there anymore.
Seahawks safety Coby Bryant agreed Monday to sign a three-year contract worth $40 million with the Chicago Bears when the NFL free-agent market officially opens Wednesday. That was according to multiple reports Monday morning, the first by Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports just as the league’s negotiating period for 2026 free agents began at 9 a.m.
Bryant gets a $12 million signing bonus amid $14 million in cash in 2026. His $12.25 million base salary for 2027 is fully guaranteed, per Albert Breer of The Monday Morning Quarterback.
Basically $26 million-plus up front was more than Seattle would pay.
The Seahawks drafted Bryant in the fourth round in 2022. General manager John Schneider often noted, and as recently as two weeks ago at the league’s scouting combine, that Bryant was the Jim Thorpe Award winner as the best cornerback in major college football at the University of Cincinnati.
The Cleveland-area native began his Seattle NFL as a cornerback with then-coach Pete Carroll. Bryant also played nickel, slot cornerback for the Seahawks before moving to safety.
He’s been best there.
Macdonald replaced the fired Carroll in January 2024. The former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator has loved Bryant’s instincts, sure-tackling and synchronicity playing with Pro Bowl veteran safety in the back of Seattle’s moving, disguising defense the last two seasons.
Bryant excelled this past season, as the Seahawks allowed the fewest points in the league and rode their defense to winning the Super Bowl last month.
Macdonald valued bringing back Bryant after his rookie deal ended with Super Bowl 60. In fact, he, Schneider and the Seahawks tried to extend Bryant last summer.
It appeared a new deal could happen this week, with the safety market in free agency shaping up to keep Bryant affordable for Seattle.
The Seahawks have been weighing trying to keep six key free agents from their Super Bowl-championship team this past season while also re-signing NFL offensive player of the year Jaxon Smith-Njigba and three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon beyond their rookie deals this summer, for possibly $40 million and $30 million per year, respectively.
Seattle lost Kenneth Walker Monday morning when the Super Bowl MVP running back agreed to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The market seemed to set at $12 million per year at safety this past weekend when the Los Angeles Rams re-signed safety Kam Curl for $36 million over three years. Sunday night, Bryant posted on his Instagram account online a picture of himself next to a photo of Schneider pointing at the camera.
Then Monday morning, the Bears gave Bryant a deal that surpassed Curl’s at an average annual value of $13.33 million — and thus surpassed what the Seahawks were budgeting to keep Bryant.
Bryant betting on himself by not taking Seattle’s extension offer last summer paid off.
Ty Okada, come on down!
Macdonald still has for 2026 another safety he really liked for how heady, steady and dedicated he was this past season: Ty Okada.
A former special-teams player from Montana State, Okada excelled in nine starts when Love had a hamstring injury for much of the 2025 regular season.
Okada also excelled in two starts, including the win at San Francisco in week 18 that clinched Seattle the NFC’s top playoff seed, when Bryant was out injured in late December into January.
Last week the Seahawks tendered Okada, 26, as an exclusive-rights free agent. Okada’s contract for 2026 is just $1,145,000, about $12 million cheaper than what the 26-year-old Bryant just got for three years from Chicago.
But it’s difficult to imagine the Seahawks and Macdonald’s top-ranked defense got better Monday.
This story was originally published March 9, 2026 at 11:07 AM.
