Eagles' C.J. Gardner-Johnson Reveals Why He's Feeling Relieved Amid Return
PHILADELPHIA – C.J. Gardner-Johnson held no grudges. Nor did the Philadelphia Eagles.
It’s rare when a player leaves the Eagles and can come back again. Perhaps two of the best to have a re-run in Philly, and most recently, were DeSean Jackson and Nick Foles.
Jackson was a fan favorite; Foles helped the Eagles win their first Super Bowl.
Can Gardner-Johnson pen a similar comeback story, becoming either a fan favorite like Jackson or winning a Super Bowl like Foles?
He has a three-year contract to try to do one or the other, preferably both.
He already ripped the fans last July after he left for the Detroit Lions in free agency, when he and the Eagles could not agree on a new contract after general manager Howie Roseman had traded for him right before the 2022 season began.
Water under the bridge for both sides now.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson
John McMullen/SI Eagles Today
“Take your feelings out of it, and just … be a man about certain things, and accept certain things as a man,” he said on Friday, a day after his signing was officially announced.
“Coming back was like a relief because I’m familiar with the people here, with the players. I’m comfortable. So, the difference from last year to this year is we both saw eye to eye.”
Perhaps even water under the bridge when it comes to a fan base he ripped last July, saying in a live stream social media feed: “My least favorite thing ... is the people. They’re (bleeping) obnoxious, I (bleeping) can’t stand the (bleepers).”
CJGJ took two shots at apologizing, though never actually using the words, ‘I am sorry.’
He wrote on social media: “I do owe the fans of Philly an apology. Regardless, this is an amazing place and we had some memories together! Let's go get us one #FlyEaglesFly.”
On Friday when asked again about an apology he went a bit deeper.
“I’m obnoxious,” he said. “I thought it was a compliment, to be honest with you. I mean, all jokes aside, that was just my feelings. You want to be somewhere so bad, to the point where you can’t control certain things. So certain things were said, but there was no meaning to it. I’m back, so I guess we’re all happy. Family reunion, huh?”
Gardner-Johnson is still just 26, and, in a candid interview days before Super Bowl LVII in Phoenix, he talked to SI Eagles Today about what his one season in Philly had been like. And he chose to focus on his growth as a person.
“You see who you really are,” he said on Feb. 10, 2023. “You go from your younger age of 20 to the older side of the 20s, so you figure out who you are and what you need to do.
“I’m a football player, smart, physical, and one of the best safeties in the league. That’s how I feel, but I got better as a player and a person. I figured out how to interact outside of football. I learned how to engage differently with my teammates and my friends.”
Gardner-Johnson entered the league as a 22-year-old, so growth is the natural course. He touched on it again on Friday, when asked what he learned sitting out all but three games last year due to a pectoral muscle tear.
“I learned (about) myself, figured out ball isn’t always about you,” he said. “It’s about 53 other guys out there, the front office. So, getting hurt, taking a step back, and not being the focal point, made me realize that I’m part of something better.
“I want to be part of something greater, and better than where I’m at, if that makes sense. I want to be able to take that next step. I think I made the right decision.”
