One thing Buffalo Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson has done throughout his career, win or lose, is run his mouth.
That’s at the heart of why Gardner-Johnson, arguably one of the NFL’s most talented safeties, is on his 7th team in 8 seasons, and Bills fans got a glimpse of how dumb and ugly it can get after the Bills lost to the New England Patriots at home on Sunday.
In his postgame comments, Gardner-Johnson did the opposite of taking accountability in a 29-26 loss that dropped the Bills to 3-1 and took a shot at Patriots wide receiver Efton Chism, who made what could very well be the catch of the year on a 1-handed touchdown grab.
On Gardner-Johnson’s long-and-winding road through the NFL, he’s made 2 stops with the Philadelphia Eagles and played in the Super Bowl both seasons, in 2022 and 2024, leading the NFL in interceptions in 2022 and winning the Super Bowl in 2024.
Gardner-Johnson had 12 interceptions in his 2 seasons with the Eagles.
“We’re not getting into no bulletin board material. An elevated guy made a helluva catch,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Probably won’t hear from him again. Respectfully. I say that with a lot of confidence. because it’s like (Maye) didn’t put his confidence in his best player. He would have thrown to Doubs or somebody, but they won the game. Whatever, they didn’t do (expletive) better than us. We gotta play better. They can mark that, we’ll be back to see them again. . . . A practice squad player made a helluva play. You do it again, he probably won’t make it again. Simple.”
It’s worth pointing out that Chism has never been on a practice squad — he made the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2025 and has remained on the roster ever since.
You know who has been on a practice squad? Gardner-Johnson, with the Ravens in 2025.
“For a guy that’s been on 8 teams in four years? I mean, I guess he knows the drill,” Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said on Monday morning.
Buffalo Bills Urged to Kick CJGJ to the Curb
ESPN’s panel of NFL analysts was unimpressed with Gardner-Johnson’s comments on Monday morning and urged the Bills to cut bait on the controversial defender as soon as humanly possible.
Gardner-Johnson, who won a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles following the 2024 season, signed a 1-year, $3.5 million contract with the Bills on March 12.
“The Bills … don’t play around with this; just get rid of this guy,” former Bills head coach Rex Ryan said. “It’s obvious (Gardner-Johnson) has his own agenda.”
“C.J., you lost a game, and it sounds like you don’t care,” former NFL linebacker and 3-time Super Bowl champion Tedy Bruschi said. “This is a total lack of accountability. This is not a championship team; this is not a championship attitude … this is bad. Championship teams don’t try to place the blame elsewhere.”
Gardner-Johnson did have 1 defender — former NFL defensive back Domonique Foxworth.
“I guess I’m not as bent out of shape about this as everyone else,” Foxworth said. “Haven’t we been critical of the Bills for not lacking any fire or attitude in the past? That’s all this is to me. He’s upset they lost. That’s a good thing, in my opinion.”
CJGJ One Of NFL’s Most Controversial Players
In an anonymous poll of 110 NFL players by The Athletic released in November 2024, Gardner-Johnson was the runaway winner in response to a question: “Most annoying player in the NFL?”
It was the second year in a row Gardner-Johnson topped a specific category in The Athletic’s anonymous poll, with the “Most Annoying” category changed from when he topped the list for “Biggest Trash Talker” in 2023.
From The Athletic: “Last season we asked players to name the biggest trash-talker. This year, we broadened the question to most annoying, leaving it to the players’ discretion to decide what qualified as annoying. Well, last year’s biggest trash-talker, Philadelphia Eagles defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson, took the crown again.”
One thing Gardner-Johnson did from the moment his NFL career began was start to rack up fines from the NFL. Since 2019, Gardner-Johnson has been fined 9 times for “agitator” type incidents, including twice for fighting and once for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Bills Urged to Part Ways With Controversial Ex-Eagles Star