Eagles S C.J. Gardner-Johnson returned to Philadelphia last offseason after spending one year with the Lions. When talking to reporters at the Super Bowl, Gardner-Johnson revealed Detroit “lied” to him about signing him to an extension for 2024.
“It was hell,” Gardner-Johnson said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “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 missed most of the 2023 season after suffering a torn pectoral muscle in Week 2. Although the defensive back was glad to return by Week 18, he mentioned that he elected against rehabbing in Detroit because it was like “hell.”
“I got back on the field and I got to play ball,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Truthfully, like in Detroit it was hell,” Gardner-Johnson said. “I went there just to — OK, when I got hurt I was like, ‘(Expletive) it.’ Truthfully. That’s why I didn’t go rehab there.”
He explained that he chose not to rehab at the team facility when it became clear they weren’t going to re-sign him, saying the organization never respected him.
“I was on a one-year deal, so it was like there was no point unless they were really bringing me back,” Gardner-Johnson said. “By the time midseason came and I was getting healthy, they wasn’t trying to extend me, I’m like, ‘I’m cool.’… I mean, to be respectful, if I stayed there or left, the respect level wasn’t there. I’m one of the most winning safeties in football.”
Gardner-Johnson, 27, is a former fourth-round pick of the Saints back in 2019 out of Florida. He was entering the final year of his four-year rookie contract and was set to make a base salary of $2.54 million when the Saints traded him to the Eagles during the preseason.
Gardner-Johnson was testing the open market as an unrestricted free agent for the first time and signed a one-year, $8 million deal with the Lions. He was placed on injured reserve after just two games with Detroit.
He returned to the Eagles on a three-year, $27 million deal in March.
In 2024, Gardner-Johnson appeared in 16 games for the Eagles and recorded 59 tackles, two tackles for loss, six interceptions, 12 pass defenses, one forced fumble, and scored one defensive touchdown.
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