The New Orleans Saints made a surprise move on Tuesday, trading defensive back CJ Gardner-Johnson to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2025 draft pick. This comes after he made it well known of his desire to sign a new contract in training but instead, Gardner-Johnson heads to Philly instead and becomes a starter right away.
Following the trade, Saints head coach Dennis Allen spoke out on the decision. Via Luke Johnson:
“We traded CJ Gardner-Johnson to the Eagles. I want to say this: That was not an easy decision. … We wouldn't have done that if we didn't feel extremely confident in the group we had.”
New safety Tyrann Mathieu also reacted:
“I just got here four or five months ago. He's been a great teammate, a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm, he loves to play football. That's just the unfortunate part of this business.”
During CJ Gardner-Johnson's time with the Saints, he logged 157 total tackles, five interceptions, and 28 passes defended in 43 career games, including 31 starts. They took him in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft after a solid college career with the Florida Gators.
New Orleans' defense is stacked as is, especially with the addition of a top-tier safety like Mathieu. Between that and Gardner-Johnson heading into a contract year, the Saints clearly saw this as an opportunity to let him go play elsewhere.
Now, CJ Gardner-Johnson will go over to the Eagles and play a key part in their defense. They released Anthony Harris in order to make room for Gardner-Johnson.
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