Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s one-year tenure with the Detroit Lions was marked by injuries and critical mistakes, making him a polarizing figure in the organization.
His return to the Philadelphia Eagles is off to a controversial start as well.
Gardner-Johnson had a critical miscue in Friday’s win over the Green Bay Packers, with wide receiver Jayden Reed making him miss badly on an open field tackle on what became a 70-yard touchdown with 5:11 of the second quarter. Many fans took to social media to roast Gardner-Johnson for the mistake, but the Eagles safety shot back in a profane rant after the game.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson: ‘They Don’t Understand’
In an Instagram Live video posted shortly after Philadelphia’s 34-29 win over the Packers on September 6, Gardner-Johnson went off on fans who had criticized him for the missed tackle.
“[Expletive] what ya talkin’ bout,” Gardner-Johnson said, via a video shared by the Eagles Nation account on X. “You know what’s real crazy, I do the dirty work as a safety… They don’t understand tackling.”
Gardner-Johnson then issued another profane challenge to fans who criticized his performance.
“Every [expletive] fan that wanna say something, I want y’all to come to practice and imma have AJ Brown do exactly what bro did and have his [expletive] coming downhill,” Gardner-Johnson said.
The rant drew some strong pushback from fans, though some sympathized with Gardner-Johnson and agreed with his assessment that making the open field tackle on Reed would have been difficult for anyone.
Disappointing Season in Detroit
Gardner-Johnson originally signed with the Lions last offseason as part of an overhaul of the secondary, but the move failed to produce any big results. The veteran safety suffered a torn pectoral muscle in Week 2 and missed the majority of the season on injured reserve, returning for Week 18 and the playoffs.
Though he moved back into the starting lineup, Gardner-Johnson nearly made a disastrous mistake in the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers. After teammate Malcolm Rodriguez intercepted a Brock Purdy pass, Gardner-Johnson delivered a blindside hit to 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel and was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty.
The penalty pushed the Lions back 15 yards, though they would go on to score a touchdown on that drive.
Gardner-Johnson and Samuel had some bad blood going back to the previous season, when Samuel appeared upset at Gardner-Johnson’s trash talk after the Eagles beat the 49ers in the NFC Championship game.
As SFGate.com noted, Gardner-Johnson had taken to Instagram in October 2022 to deliver a warning to Samuel to “don’t be friendly when you see me” and call the wide receiver “a running back” who can’t run routes.
“I ain’t even going to sit here and play with you, little boy,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Just because you got a little bag, people give you a little clout, and then you ain’t nothing, bro.”
Gardner-Johnson signed with the Eagles before the 2022 season after the first three years of his career with the New Orleans Saints. After his one-year stint in Detroit last season, Gardner-Johnson returned to Philadelphia on a new contract.
