Among the top NFL storylines entering Week 3 is C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s return to New Orleans, a matchup that is sure to hit home for the star Philadelphia Eagles safety.
A man who’s never at a loss for words, CJGJ has not yet aired the dirty laundry on why the Saints shocked the NFL world on roster cut-down day in August 2022, trading their then 24-year-old starter to the Eagles. He’s also never gotten the opportunity to face his former team as an opponent.
"I know he's going to go in with a big chip on his shoulder,” Eagles cornerback Darius Slay said this week. “I know Chauncey's ready. … He likes to prove people wrong.”
Is C.J. Gardner-Johnson (foot) playing this week vs. the Saints?
CJGJ has never played a revenge game against his former team, but it hasn’t been for a lack of opportunity.
He suffered a rib injury and lacerated kidney in Philly’s 2022 game against the Green Bay Packers, missing five games, including Week 17 against New Orleans at the Linc. As a member of the Detroit Lions in 2023, a torn pectoral muscle in Week 2 required surgery. He was able to return for Detroit’s playoff run that year, but was near his home in Florida rehabbing when the Lions visited New Orleans in Week 13.
Gardner-Johnson is battling an unknown foot injury this week, something bad enough for the Eagles to hold him out of Thursday’s practice. “He tweaked something (Thursday),” coach Nick Sirianni said. “I won’t get into the specifics, obviously, but we’ll see how (Friday) goes.”
Why did the Saints trade C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Eagles?
According to Nick Underhill, who covers the Saints for neworleans.football, a disagreement on CJGJ’s future with the team forced the Saints’ hand when Eagles GM Howie Roseman came calling. Saints fans still can’t stomach the trade: Gardner-Johnson and a 2025 seventh-round pick, for a 2023 fifth and 2024 sixth, a deal also known as the “Roseman Special.”
Again, Gardner-Johnson has never opened up about his fractured relationship with the team and city that welcomed into the NFL. His comments to reporters in the locker room reflects some expected hostility on Sunday:
C.J. Gardner-Johnson on the significance of returning to face his former team the Saints (who traded the safety to the #Eagles before the 2022 season):
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) September 19, 2024
"Truthfully and honestly, I'm already hated, so I ain't got nothing to say. Truthfully. What I got to say? They got rid of me.…
There were reported gaps between CJGJ’s camp and the Saints in contract negotiations during the 2022 offsason. The bigger sticking point may have been his position. The Saints viewed him as a nickel corner, but Gardner-Johnson wanted to play safety. He was a starting safety for the Eagles throughout the 2022 regular season, sickening Saints fans with a stretch of six interceptions in five games before that nasty rib injury in Green Bay.
The Eagles made a run to Super Bowl LVII against the Kansas City Chiefs that year, with CJGJ seeing time at both safety and nickel during the playoffs. The Saints missed the postseason with a 7-10 record.
Sirianni is hoping to have his team’s top emotional leader on the field against a Saints team that tore through both the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys during an impressive 2-0 start to the season.
The coach’s message to CJGJ in his first trip back to New Orleans?
“He’s got such an awesome personality that — always use that personalty to bring people together, “Sirianni said. “Be yourself, have fun out there, show your emotion. Like, I would be crazy to tell him not to show his emotion, because I show my emotion. But show your emotion, do everything within the rules of the game, because people feed off that. So I love his energy and just his personality.”
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