Though recovering from a concussion against the Carolina Panthers last year was tough, Jaquan Brisker said he never lost his step. As offseason workouts begin Monday, he said this “is the best I ever felt” and is eager to face Ben Johnson’s offense while the Bears gear up for the 2025 NFL season.
“I told my coaches not too long ago that mentally, physically, this is the best I ever felt, especially from last season,” Brisker said. “I definitely feel great and [have] been doing a lot of work on my brain, my nervous system and things like that, just to get back.”
Brisker suffered the third concussion of his NFL career in Week 5 of the 2024 NFL season against the Panthers, which landed him on Injured Reserve for the remainder of the year after spending nearly six weeks in concussion protocol.
He described the process of clearing hurdles in recovery as tough and unfamiliar territory. It was an experience he never had until he made it to the NFL.
“Missing the back half of the year and only playing in five games, that never happened to me in my life,” Brisker said. “It was hard because every week, I really wanted to get back, every single day.”
The Penn State alum detailed how his latest recovery started by visiting a doctor in Pittsburgh, where he learned about five different subtypes of concussions. Brisker originally thought the best route to recovery was going to be through rest and recovery—getting proper sleep every night.
But based on the type of concussion Brisker had, his doctor’s recommended recovery routine centered on exercise.
“Get my heart rate up. Run. Do a lot of fast motion. Move my head from side to side,” Brisker said of his workout routine. “A lot of different exercises within like 30 minutes to an hour. That was the first part of it to get me cleared.”
The next part was working on his brain’s cognitive performance. Brisker said he credits teammates like Montez Sweat and his coaches for helping him work through this portion of recovery and getting to a better headspace.
“Doing these 30-minute sessions [in] the Shiftwave chair. Doing hyperbaric chamber, things like that,” Brisker said. “I was doing the hyperbaric chamber last season just trying to get back as fast as I could. Montez [Sweat] helped me with that. I used to go to his house all the time, every single day, and do the hyperbaric chamber.”
According to Shiftwave’s website, a Shiftwave chair is a new, zero gravity wellness device that uses intelligent patterns of pulse pressure waves traveling through the body to rapidly reset stress response and realign the nervous system, reducing inflammation and pain while also restoring sleep function.
The NFL Players Association agreed to a multi-year partnership in December 2024 with Shiftwave to implement the company’s technology as a part of their initiatives to improve athlete wellness in the sport.
A hyperbaric chamber is a medical device that provides high concentrations of oxygen to the body at increased pressure. According to the Mayo Clinic, hyperbaric chamber therapy can be used as a method to treat serious trauma where time spent in the chamber can help enhance the growth and development of new blood vessels and tissues.
While he was using both technologies to help recover, Brisker described how his mom would visit his house and see his improvement after suffering the injury. In her eyes, he looked fine to play.
But as each week passed, Brisker was ruled out by the Bears’ medical staff. Instead of being there on the field with his teammates, he was at home, forced to watch the game from a TV screen.
“I really wanted to be out there, but I couldn’t be out there physically,” Brisker said. “Mentally though, I felt like I never lost my step … I love football so much, I wanted to be out there with my teammates, especially seeing how they were losing.
“That was probably one of the hardest moments in my life.”
By season’s end, Brisker said he felt “amazing,” but his “body just wasn’t there.”
But now, the fourth-year safety said he’s learned from the hit that sidelined him for 12 weeks last year and is fully ready to go.
“What I really learned from that situation, probably not go too full-speed, be too physical,” Brisker said. “I mean, I’m going to be physical, but don’t be a crash out.”
“I know it’s going to be heated, especially after our first conversation”
When it comes to first impressions between Brisker and his new head coach, Ben Johnson, third time is the charm.
He described how it took three attempts in three days to finally have a conversation with his new head coach after Johnson arrived at Halas Hall.
“The first day he was in the building, I just missed him because I was working out,” Brisker said. “He had walked around and met everyone, did his tour with his family, then they went right back to the hotel.”
24 hours later, Johnson ran the gambit of media interviews at Halas Hall, preventing the two from connecting once more, but Brisker was persistent.
“The third day, I finally got him,” Brisker said. “I honestly thought it was going to be for five minutes. I just thought it was going to be, hey, what’s up? My name’s Jaquan Brisker, things like that. But no, he told me sit down and we sat down for like an hour, maybe an hour-30, and we just talked.”
Brisker said he and Johnson’s conversation was expansive, covering everything from how he was feeling to life outside of football, family and the game itself. The two even launched some good, old-fashioned competitive barbs at one another.
“We talked about football, made some competition jokes, We were already talking about offense versus defense. It was amazing,” Brisker said. “It was a great conversation with coach. I feel like he’s a great person, a great man and I love his plan.”
Brisker expressed enthusiasm about daily matchups in practice against an offensive-minded head coach, viewing it as a chance for the defense to refine their skills—iron sharpening iron—thanks to Johnson’s proven success leading the Detroit Lions’ offense over the past three seasons.
“It’s going to help us prepare for other offenses and just the competition during practice,” Brisker said. “I know it’s going to be heated, especially after our first conversation. We were already talking stuff to each other so, I really can’t wait to go against them guys.”
The first day of the Bears offseason workout program is Monday, April 7. Chicago’s voluntary minicamp takes place from April 21-23. OTA offseason workouts take place May 20-22, 27-30 and June 9-11. Mandatory minicamp is June 3-5.
