It took the Philadelphia Eagles 2 seasons with safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to realize they’d had enough.
It took the Houston Texans just 3 games.
Sources: The Texans are releasing S C. J. Gardner–Johnson,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport wrote on his official X account on September 23. “A surprise.”
A surprise, indeed.
The move came just 7 months after the Eagles won a Super Bowl with CJGJ as their starting safety and 6 months after they traded him to the Texans along with a 2026 sixth round pick in exchange for former first round pick and offensive guard Kenyon Green and a 2025 fifth round pick.
CJGJ also played for the Eagles in 2022, when he led the NFL in interceptions and helped lead them to a Super Bowl where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
“According to multiple reports, the Eagles have agreed to trade Gardner-Johnson to the Texans,” Pro Football Talk’s Josh Alper wrote on March 11. “They’ll also send a 2026 sixth-round pick to Houston in exchange for guard Kenyon Green and a 2026 fifth-round selection. Gardner-Johnson spent the 2023 season in Philly and then returned to sign a three-year contract after a year in Detroit. He had 59 tackles, six interceptions and a forced fumble in the regular season and then posted 14 tackles en route to a Super Bowl win.”
The real question that now remains is where will CJGJ land if he gets another shot — which he almost certainly will — and why in the world would the Texans cut him loose?
Speculation Runs Wild Over CJGJ’s Release
CJGJ’s release may be more a result of inept leadership on the Texans than anything else. Houston is 0-3 and has lost all 3 games by one score after making the playoffs each of the last 2 seasons.
The answer may be issues with the player himself.
Among the issues Texans experienced behind the scenes with C.J. Gardner–Johnson, per sources, he was critical of teammates in the secondary and didn’t like his role,” Houston KPRC’s Aaron Wilson wrote on his official X account. “It was a locker room issue and ultimately this just wasn’t a good fit for the team and for a talented player … after friction behind the scenes with him complaining about his role, wanting to blitz more, per league sources, and even communicating that he wanted to be traded. It didn’t work out for him here.”
BRING HIM HOME!
CJGJ One Of NFL’s Most Controversial Players
If CJGJ’s mouth and behavior truly got him ushered out of Houston, it would come as no surprise to any NFL fan who has been paying attention to his career.
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.
In 2024, he was fined 3 times for taunting.
Former Eagles Star C.J. Gardner-Johnson Gets Shocking News About NFL Future