In one of his first training camp practices with the Detroit Lions, defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson suffered a knee injury but it might not be as bad as first thought.
That would be some pretty good news for the Lions. Because the first news out of training camp on Monday morning didn't sound very good.
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The term “non-contact” injury is something you never want to hear.
Gardner-Johnson, 25, spent just one year with the Eagles in 2022 but was a big part of the secondary of a Super Bowl team. This injury could be a huge blow to an up-and-coming Lions team with big aspirations in 2023. The Lions are the favorite to win the NFC North, according to Points Bet.
Gardner-Johnson signed a one-year contract with the Lions this offseason after the Eagles made a failed attempt to sign him to a long-term deal.
NFL
Back in March, a league source told NBC Sports Philadelphia that the Eagles offered Gardner-Johnson a multi-year deal but when that was turned down, they pivoted and found a way to re-sign cornerback James Bradberry and also keep cornerback Darius Slay under contract.
“I think when you go back to the start of free agency, we talked to his representatives about bringing him back here and also talked to them about the fact that we had limited resources,” Eagles GM Howie Roseman said at the NFL owners meetings in March. “It’s no secret that sometime relatively soon we want to extend our quarterback. Our whole kind of roster building is going to turn a little bit here from a quarterback on a rookie deal towards hopefully a quarterback on a long-term deal. Not that we have anything done or anything but that’s obviously our goal, is to keep Jalen (Hurts) here for a long time. And so you run out of resources.
“We were very clear that at some point we were going to have to go in a different direction. In those first couple days, we tried and then we pivoted. I think that’s one of the most important things in free agency. You can go in with a plan but you have to be able to pivot and have other options and not get stuck with nothing. I think at that point, that’s where we went. When we pivoted that was kind of where it went.”
The Eagles traded for Gardner-Johnson just before the 2022 season began last summer. While he was a nickel cornerback in New Orleans, Gardner-Johnson played safety in Jonathan Gannon’s defense. Gardner-Johnson played in 12 regular season games and was tied for the NFL lead in interceptions in 2022 with six.
Even though Gardner-Johnson has made some unkind remarks about Eagles fans recently, he was an important part of a team that made it to the Super Bowl a year ago.
After Gardner-Johnson and Marcus Epps both left in free agency, the Eagles will have two new starters at safety this season. Reed Blankenship, Terrell Edmunds and rookie Sydney Brown will all be competing for starting jobs at training camp this summer.
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