Ben Johnson has been working quickly to assemble a new staff in Chicago. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bears‘ new head coach has even contributed to the continued dissolution of the Lions‘ coaching staff, hiring Antwaan Randle El as the team’s new assistant head coach and wide receivers coach. Schefter adds that, while the Bears are still working to fill their defensive coordinator position, Johnson has already poached Cowboys defensive backs coach Al Harris to take the role of defensive pass-game coordinator and defensive backs coach in Chicago. 
Randle El, a fairly successful former NFL receiver who made his mark as a return man, retired as a player back in 2011, taking a job as the athletic director at a Christian high school in Virginia that he helped found a few years later. In 2019, Randle El made a return to the NFL as an offensive assistant on the Buccaneers, winning a Super Bowl ring as a coach while assisting his former wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians in Tampa Bay.
In 2021, Randle El was hired under Dan Campbell as the wide receivers coach in Detroit. He’s built a reliable stable for the Lions, forming then-fourth-round rookie Amon-Ra St. Brown into a star wideout, helping first-round receiver Jameson Williams navigate his way back from a nasty torn ACL suffered in his final collegiate game, and helping players like Josh Reynolds, Tim Patrick, and Kalif Raymond make big supportive impacts in Detroit. He’ll now follow Johnson to Chicago, where he’ll inherit a corps that loses Keenan Allen but returns a talented duo in D.J. Moore and Rome Odunze.
It’s strange to see a defensive position coach get hired before a defensive coordinator, but it’s certainly understandable for Harris, who makes a long-awaited return to the NFC North after spending eight years of his 14-year playing career as a Packer. The two-time Pro Bowl cornerback will take the new position in Chicago after five years in Dallas as defensive backs coach (with one of those years also giving him the title of assistant head coach).
Harris’ coaching career started in Kansas City where he worked with a secondary that included Eric Berry, Sean Smith, Brandon Flowers, and Husain Abdullah. His focus on the staff eventually shifted more specifically to cornerbacks as he worked with Smith, Marcus Peters, Steven Nelson, Kendall Fuller, and Orlando Scandrick. After a year as a defensive assistant at Florida Atlantic University, he joined the Cowboys staff as defensive backs coach, where he mentored stars like Trevon Diggs, Stephon Gilmore, DaRon Bland, and several other impact starters. Harris inherits a talented group in Chicago that stars Kevin Byard and features Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Kyler Gordon, and Jaquan Brisker.
Johnson will continue to build out his staff, with former Saints head coach Dennis Allen being mentioned recently as a strong possibility to fill the defensive coordinator role. Broncos tight ends coach Declan Doyle has also been linked to the new Chicago staff. While he hasn’t coached with Johnson, Doyle worked with Campbell during their four years together in New Orleans. According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Bears “would likely have to give him the (offensive coordinator) title to get him out of Denver,” which may not be very likely. In two years in his current role, Doyle’s tight ends have combined for only 845 yards and nine touchdowns over the two-season span, with no one getting more than 204 yards or three touchdowns.
Johnson was a highly touted head coach prospect, and he’s quickly building a talented staff of popular names around him. Bringing in accomplished position coaches who have formed incredible position groups over the last several years marks a strong start to his first NFL coaching gig. Bears assistants recently announced as not expected to return under Johnson include defensive backs coach Jon Hoke and running backs coach Chad Morton., per Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. They follow in the footsteps of former passing game coordinator/interim offensive coordinator/interim head coach Thomas Brown and former defensive coordinator Eric Washington, who were previously reported as not returning.