C.J. Gardner-Johnson felt like an impactful addition to the Detroit Lions' secondary in 2023, but a torn pectoral early in the season limited him to three regular season game before he played in all three postseason games. Things just didn't go as hoped.
Johnson's departure in 2024 free agency was expected. He went back to the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom he played in a Super Bowl the year before he came to Detroit. But he couldn't be happy with that result, going scorched Earth on Lions' fans and his former teammates about a month after his departure.
Later, when the Eagles made a return trip to the Super Bowl to close the 2024 season, Gardner-Johnson still couldn't let go of his unhappiness with how his season in Detroit went.
"It was hell,” Gardner-Johnson told Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, regarding his season in Detroit. “I got lied to, so it was, whatever. I got told, respectfully, I was going to get brought back and didn’t get brought back. And offseason went real for me, signing back here because I wasn’t really tripping on it. It all worked out.”
Gardner-Johnson said he didn't rehab his injury at the Lions' facility once he realized he was not going to be re-signed. Apparently, the Lions should've willingly, and without question, committed to an injured player who was rehabbing a serious injury.
The Eagles traded Gardner-Johnson one year into the multi-year deal they signed him to. The Houston Texans didn't keep him very long, and he made a pitstop on the Baltimore Ravens' practice squad before finishing last season with the Chicago Bears. He then landed with the Buffalo Bills for this season, as he has become very well-traveled.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson continues to prove the Lions right
Gardner-Johnson has a history of incidents to the point they overshadow most of what he has done over his seven-plus NFL seasons. The latest came on Sunday, when he was ejected for spitting at Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers.
After the game, Gardner-Johnson offered an apology that rings fairly hollow in light of his history. In his Week 6 takeaways, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer offered a blunt assessment.
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"Chauncey Gardner-Johnson really is a world-class knucklehead. I used to love how when the Saints and Falcons would fight, he was always right in the middle of it. Maybe he wasn’t throwing the punch, but he’d definitely always be on the scene. And that’s still the case, as the Bills’ safety was ejected for spitting against the Raiders."
With how the Lions' secondary has looked for the most part this season, it's fair to say more should've been done to help things during the offseason. A reunion with Gardner-Johnson could've theoretically been a piece of that, but all things considered it was never going to happen.
Gardner-Johnson's latest incident further proves two things: Why he has been so incredibly well-traveled lately, and why the Lions were right to let him go after one injury-truncated season.
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