Getting acclimated to a new locker room can be tough, but here’s a tip from C.J. Gardner-Johnson: Walk right in and be the team’s most dynamic defensive player.
That led to fast friendships as Gardner-Johnson stepped in for injured nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon. He not only has reasserted himself as a valuable playmaker, but he has given himself a chance to earn a longer stay with the Bears.
“I don’t think about anything more than the week I’m in,” he told the Sun-Times. “I’ve been through [stuff], so I know I can’t think too far ahead. Just blessed to be here right now.”
That gratitude has been clear since the day the Bears signed him two weeks ago. The Bears are thankful, too, after Gardner-Johnson put a charge into their defense with 15 tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble in two games.
Hardly anyone could’ve seen that coming. Gardner-Johnson spent weeks out of the NFL after the Texans cut him in September and the Ravens cut him in early October. While he was hopeful to get back in the league, he knew his reputation as a challenging personality might steer teams away.
The Bears have their own history with him. In two games in 2020, he provoked wide receivers to take a swing at him, and one of those incidents came after the team held a meeting leading up to a playoff game against the Saints to highlight his antagonistic tactics and warn players against taking the bait.
There never has been any doubt about his talent, however, and while this is his sixth organization in seven seasons, good teams have wanted him.
The Saints drafted him near the end of the Sean Payton era, when Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen was in the same role for them, and he never played for a losing team as he bounced from there to the Eagles and Lions.
Gardner-Johnson won a ring as the Eagles’ starting safety last season. They had him in 2022, when they went 14-3 and had the No. 2 defense in the league, and thought highly enough of him to bring him back.
As did Allen, in this case.
Their connection is unique — “I’d say our personalities are different,” Allen said with a big laugh — and is rooted in Gardner-Johnson’s rookie season with the Saints. When asked why they mesh, Gardner-Johnson kept going back to Allen being part of the staff that drafted him out of Florida in the fourth round in 2019. Allen brought it up, too.
“We were the first group that got an opportunity to coach him,” he said. “There’s a trust level on both sides. I know exactly what we’re getting in the player, and it’s positive, and he understands how we’re going to operate.”
Bringing in Gardner-Johnson is a move the Bears probably wouldn’t have made last season, but the power structure is stronger with coach Ben Johnson than it was with predecessor Matt Eberflus. There’s more buy-in from players, including newcomers.
Gardner-Johnson said he has been at Halas Hall daily at 6 a.m. to meet with assistant coaches Al Harris and Cannon Matthews and is intent on “staying within the locker room and not trying to be the outlier.”
That would extend his opportunity and perhaps keep him on the field when Gordon returns from injured reserve, which could be next week. Gordon has played outside before; putting him there would allow Gardner-Johnson to stay at nickel.
Gardner-Johnson said, “I’m good regardless” of what happens next. “Shoot, you can put me on special teams.”
Beyond that, who knows? He’s only 27, and both starting safeties are free agents at the end of the season. If this continues to go as well as it has, it could be perfect timing for Gardner-Johnson and the Bears.
