On Tuesday, the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles shocked the NFL world as they traded standout safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans. Eagles fans couldn’t believe the news, especially given how many players the team lost to start free agency.
Gardner-Johnson, who just signed a three-year deal with the club last offseason, after spending 2023 with the Detroit Lions, was on a livestream discussing the trade on Tuesday. Surprisingly, the veteran safety didn’t seem broken up about the Eagles’ decision.
“It was no bad blood. It was a great phone call, great phone call,” Gardner-Johnson said. “It was an amazing phone call. Situation is them young guys gotta get paid in Philly. Jalen Carter, Reed (Blankenship), Zack (Baun), all them guys gotta get their money, they deserve it.”
CJGJ reacts to the #Eagles trading him: “It was no bad blood.. Them young guys just gotta get paid down there.. All I asked them was to trade me somewhere I can play winning football, and I woke up and boom there it is, we in Houston”
— Eagles Nation (@PHLEaglesNation) March 11, 2025
(H/T @Philly_Mike25) pic.twitter.com/2dIDsomKrt
“Me getting older so I understand, there’s no bad blood,” the veteran safety said. “All I asked them was to trade me somewhere I can play winning football, and I woke up and boom there it is, we in Houston.”
Entering free agency this week, the Eagles didn’t have much cap space ($23.5M) to work with. And not to mention, Philadelphia will have to give out some extensions very soon to some of their recent draft picks on defense, who played lights out in 2024 and are trending upwards.
Nevertheless, the Eagles will have a hard time replacing Gardner-Johnson, who helped the team get to the Super Bowl in 2022 and 2024. Last season, the veteran defensive back brought back that edge the defense missed in 2023, which paid off in a blowout Super Bowl 59 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
The 27-year-old defensive back had 59 combined tackles, 12 pass deflections, six interceptions (team-high), two tackles for loss, and a forced fumble. Philadelphia will hope Sydney Brown and whoever else they add during the offseason can step up for Gardner-Johnson.