Texans' DeMeco Ryans Provides C.J. Gardner-Johnson's Week 1 Status After Injury Scare

The safety will make his Texans debut soon.

C.J. Gardner-Johnson is expected to make his Texans debut in Week 1. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

At the beginning of August, there was concern that new Texans safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson tore his ACL and could potentially miss the entire 2025 season. Luckily for Houston fans and the safety, the ligament was still intact, and he was expected to make a full recovery. However, there wasn't an exact timeline for when fans could see Gardner-Johnson make his Texans debut.

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans provided an update on Monday by sharing that the team fully expects Gardner-Johnson to compete on Sunday vs. the Rams in the season opener. Ryans noted that the safety is "doing really well" and "progressing fine."

The team will give a more solidified answer on Wednesday when the first injury report of the season comes out.

Gardner-Johnson is coming off a Super Bowl season with the Eagles before he was traded to the Texans back in March. He led the league in interceptions in 2022 with six, and he also had six interceptions last season to tie for the third-most in the NFL.

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