How Quickly Can Eagles Get Chauncey Gardner-Johnson Up to Speed?

PHILADELPHIA - There is no grading on a curve in the NFL.

The Eagles made a splash at the initial cut down to 53 by acquiring veteran defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson with the marching orders for defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon and secondary coach Dennard Wilson made clear: get the talented playmaker up to speed for Week 1 in Detroit.

“We pay Coach Gannon and Coach Wilson a lot of money to do their jobs, and C.J. is a smart guy. So, we'll get him ramped up and get him ready to go,” Head Coach Nick Sirianni said Thursday morning.

That sounds all well and good but Gardner-Johnson has spent the majority of his career in New Orleans playing nickel cornerback and he will be tasked with not only learning a new defense in the short turnaround but also doing it while expecting to master a new position even if some of the duties of a slot CB and safety can mirror each other at times in Gannon’s defense.

Current slot Avonte Maddox, who played safety as a rookie when Jim Schwartz was the DC, noted the coverages can mirror each other at times but the two positions are completely different.

“It all depends on the [defensive] call,” he said. “... For example, Cover-1. If it's Cover-1 I'm checking the slot over here. [CGJ’s] manned up against the tight end. So it's like we're mirroring each other there.

"You know, if it's whatever else you call, it could be a mirror defense. You never know. So, that's what [Gannon] probably means by mirroring back and forth but at the end of the day it's two completely different positions.”

A former Eagles coach ballparked the package Gardner-Johnson would get for Week 1 at about 70% of the typical call sheet with 10 or 15 hours of extra time put in by the coaches and the player himself.

“The way it usually works is that the position coaches [in this case Wilson and his assistant DK McDonald] will put together a scaled-down install and [McDonald] will monitor as [Gannon and Wilson] finish the planning for the [Lions],” the former coach said

Gardner-Johnson’s football IQ is expected t expedite this process and likely increases confidence that more can be put on his plate vs. some others put in a similar situation.

“I know the guys have been working really hard, he's been working really hard, and the coaches have been working really hard to get him caught up,” Sirianni said. “We did some things [Wednesday], we even got into a part of the field [Wednesday] in the red zone that they didn't have a chance to install. They were doing it a little bit on the field even because you don't start with the install with the red zone, but they caught him up, and he had a good practice.”

Outside the building, the belief is that the Eagles got a good player who will gradually figure things out but there will be growing pains.

“It’s challenging but it’s what you gotta do,” former league executive Chris Landry said on JAKIB Sports' BIRDS 365 when asked about ramping a player up in a short time. “What you gotta do is utilize him and what he really does well. [Gardner-Johnson] does a good job in the slot, he’s got versatility so there’s not a simple way of this is what we’re gonna do and turn on a switch.

“It’s gonna be a gradual process but I think there are some similarities to how they are going to play him relative to what he’s done in the past so I think the transition will be fairly smooth but I don’t expect him to have his best games immediately.”

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Sports. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talker Jody McDonald, every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com and JAKIBSports.com. You can reach John at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen