C.J. Gardner-Johnson has already missed two rematch games against the New Orleans Saints with injuries on two different teams, so he’s probably looking forward to his third chance for some payback. But he was a surprise midweek addition to the Philadelphia Eagles injury report with a foot issue. That has made him questionable for Sunday’s game.
His old team is ready if he plays. Saints head coach Dennis Allen was asked Friday about planning for instigators who bait opponents into hotheaded penalties, and he had a great response.
“Is there a particular player you’re talking about?” Allen quipped.
Gardner-Johnson has developed a reputation as one of the NFL’s best trash talkers. When he was with the Saints, he was known for getting under opponents’ skin and drawing flags — and a punch or two. That’s continued after he left the team. Last Monday night he taunted another player into swinging on him and hurting their team.
So the Saints are going to be ready, if Gardner-Johnson does end up playing. They know him better than any other team around the league. It just comes down to health. The Saints traded him to the Eagles in 2022 but a lacerated kidney put Gardner-Johnson on injured reserve before they could play each other later that season. He signed with the Detroit Lions in 2023, another Saints opponent, but a torn pectoral muscle sidelined him again before kickoff.
Now he’s gone back to Philadelphia and is dealing with another untimely injury. We’ll have to wait to see whether he can gut it out. When approached by Eagles beat reporters in the locker room on Friday, Gardner-Johnson offered only a brief comment: “See ya Sunday.”
