Safety Market Gets Interesting as it Pertains Chauncey-Gardner Johnson
The first weekend of NFL free agency has arrived, and there will be many more weekends to come.
On this one, however, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson is still seeking employment. The safety who shined with the Eagles in his one and only year with them in 2022, was ranked by most as one of the top five free agents heading into the new league year on March 15.
He is still available to a team willing to meet his asking price, and the Eagles are still in the mix.
Gardner-Johnson is on record as saying he believes he is the best safety in football.
Jessie Bates got a deal early in free agency to jump ship from the Bengals to the Falcons on a four-year deal worth $16M per year.
Bates is a year older and, statistically, has numbers very similar to CJGJ.
It stands to reason then that Gardner-Johnson should be paid accordingly.
For some reason, he hasn’t been, and it’s at that point in free agency where one-year, prove-it deals become more frequent than longer-term ones.
Gardner-Johnson has already proven himself, yet that may be the road he is forced to travel.
A one-year deal would certainly be to the benefit of the Eagles, who have made a good living on handing those out to such players as Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, and Jason Kelce.
They are veterans, though.
Still, if CJGJ has any concern about what a one-year deal can do for him with the Eagles, he just has to look at teammate James Bradberry, who signed a one-year prove-it deal last May to come to Philly.
Bradberry excelled and he became a priority signing for the Eagles shortly after free agency began, earning a three-year deal.
That can be Gardner-Johnson next year with another season like he had this past year.
The safety market is interesting, however.
The Bengals, who may have been a landing spot for CJGJ, filled Bates’ spot by signing former Penn State product Nick Scott to a three-year deal on Friday that will pay him $4M a year. Scott is coming off a career season with 86 tackles, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles.
Also on Friday, the Patriots cut Jalen Mills on Friday. Mills can play safety and did for a bit when he was in Philadelphia when he began his career. The former seventh-round draft pick in 2016, the Green Goblin is still under 30. He turns 29 in April.
There is also the potential that the Titans part ways with two-time Pro Bowl safety Kevin Byard, who turns 30 in August.
It was reported that the Titans wanted Byard to take a pay cut, but Byard isn’t interested. It’s a situation that bears monitoring if you’re Gardner-Johnson.
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Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglestoday.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
