The Buffalo Bills are moving on from former New Orleans Saints draft pick C.J. Gardner-Johnson, NFL reporter Aaron Wilson reported Tuesday, Nov. 3, citing a league source.
Gardner-Johnson started six games for Buffalo after signing a one-year deal in March. He recorded 26 tackles, two passes defended and one interception for a Bills team that improved to 6-1 with a win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Gardner-Johnson missed that game while serving a one-game suspension. The NFL suspended him for spitting at an opponent during Buffalo’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders. He was eligible to return Monday, a day before Wilson reported that the Bills were moving on. Buffalo had yet to announce the move at the time of Wilson’s report.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson Started 31 Games in Three Seasons With the Saints
The Saints traded up with the New York Jets to take Gardner-Johnson out of Florida in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. They sent picks No. 116 and No. 168 to New York to get him at No. 105.
Gardner-Johnson played 43 regular-season games for New Orleans from 2019 through 2021, starting 31. He finished his Saints tenure with 161 tackles, 28 passes defended, five interceptions and three sacks.
He started seven games as a rookie before making 13 starts in 2020, when he set Saints career highs with 66 tackles and 13 passes defended. In 2021, he had 46 tackles, two sacks and three interceptions in 12 games. That final season accounted for three of his five picks and two of his three sacks in New Orleans.
The Saints traded Gardner-Johnson to the Philadelphia Eagles in August 2022. He intercepted six passes in 12 games that season, more than he had in three years with New Orleans, and helped Philadelphia reach Super Bowl LVII.
Gardner-Johnson Won a Super Bowl Before Stops With Texans, Ravens and Bears
Gardner-Johnson played three regular-season games for the Detroit Lions in 2023 before returning to Philadelphia in 2024. He started 16 regular-season games, matched his career high with six interceptions and started all four playoff games as the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX.
Philadelphia traded him to the Houston Texans the following March. He started Houston’s first three games of the 2025 season before the Texans released him. Gardner-Johnson then spent about a week on Baltimore’s practice squad before signing with the Chicago Bears, where he reunited with defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, who had coached him in New Orleans.
That reunion gave Gardner-Johnson his longest run of the 2025 season. He appeared in 10 games for Chicago, starting seven and recording 51 tackles, three sacks and two interceptions. Buffalo signed him the following spring and put him in the starting lineup. If the Bills finalize the move, Gardner-Johnson will be looking for his next team less than two years after starting in a Super Bowl.
Former New Orleans Saints Draft Pick Cut by Super Bowl Contender