Ben Johnson is bringing one of his former Lions colleagues to Chicago. Antwaan Randle-El is finalizing a deal with become Bears assistant head coach and receivers coach, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Friday evening.

Randle-El was the Lions receivers coach the past four seasons, including three with Johnson was offensive coordinator. This title constitutes a promotion for Randle-El, meaning the Lions couldn’t block the move.

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Randle-El played nine solid seasons in the NFL, with the Steelers and Washington’s football team from 2002-10. He grew up in the Chicagoland area and starred at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, which is south of the city.

Randle-El has plenty of talent to work with. DJ Moore and Rome Odunze are under contract and it’s possible Keenan Allen returns for his second season in Chicago to round out an excellent trio. Randle-El has played a part in getting Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams going strong, and could help develop Odunze in a similar fashion.

This marks the first addition to Johnson’s coaching staff, and it will be interesting to see how many other coaches in total join him from Detroit. He won’t be adding respected offensive line coach Hank Fraley who has chosen to stay with the Lions and accept a promotion to run-game coordinator.

He will add J.T. Barrett as quarterbacks coach, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs, after he served as assistant quarterbacks coach in Detroit.

Johnson has been interviewing Bears coaches under contract, though there hasn’t yet been news of anyone being retained.

The new Bears head coach has some important roles to fill, and the Bears seems committed to providing the resources required to build a quality staff.

“He’s smart, he’s hardworking, he’s innovative, he’s curious, he’s demanding and then now we need to surround a great staff with him,” Bears president Kevin Warren said. “We need to make sure our players are surrounded with accountability but given the resources they need to win.”

The Bears have added another defensive assistant, per Schefter. Al Harris will be the Bears defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach. He was previously on the Dallas Cowboys staff starting in 2020. Harris was a former Packers cornerback who played 14 years in the NFL for four different teams.