Recently, the Baltimore Ravens dropped to 1-4 on the young 2025 NFL season with a home loss to the Houston Texans. While the offense predictably struggled in the absence of Lamar Jackson, the Ravens' defense, which was already putrid even when healthy, was dealing with various injuries and was eviscerated by the Texans' offense.
With the season quickly slipping away, the Ravens are grasping at straws to try to stay in the mix, and on Tuesday, the team made a move to try to give them some depth on the defensive side of the ball.
“Veteran safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson is signing with the #Ravens practice squad, per his agent Kevin Conner of (Universal Sports & Entertainment Mgmt. LLC),” reported NFL insider Tom Pelissero on X, formerly Twitter. “With Baltimore's defense so banged up, CJGJ could be on the field sooner than later.”
Gardner-Johnson was released by the Texans earlier this year and has been an up and down player throughout his career, but did help the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl last year against the Kansas City Chiefs.
At this point, the biggest question for the Ravens is when Jackson will return to the lineup. He suffered a hamstring injury during the second half of the Ravens' recent loss to Kansas City and missed the Texans game as a result.
However, unless the Ravens' defense can find a way to get healthy and start making some stops, it might not matter how good Jackson looks when he returns.
Baltimore's defense has been awful from the jump this year, giving up a 40-piece in Week 1 to the Buffalo Bills at a time when they were almost completely healthy.
Things have fallen off the rails further since then, and they won't get any easier from here, as the Ravens will next take the field for a home game against the talented Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
