The Philadelphia Eagles said goodbye to Chauncey Gardner-Johnson this offseason. But saying goodbye to the city of Brotherly Love may be harder than you think.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson was traded to the Houston Texans in exchange for Kenyon Green in March and he figures to be a big part of the Texans defense. While he’s excited for the new opportunity, he hasn’t shown up for OTAs and was caught repping the Eagles in his latest workout video.
Gardner-Johnson Rocks an Eagles Shirt While Explaining Why He Isn’t at Texans OTAs
Gardner-Johnson posted a video to his Instagram account to respond to critics who have questioned why he wasn’t at the Texans’ OTA workouts this week. While the montage shows he may be more than ready for the start of mandatory minicamp, it also had an easter egg for Philadelphia fans as Garner-Johnson was rocking an Eagles shirt during his workout.
“Y’all been wondering why I haven’t been at OTAs & sh*t.. I been getting right. I been working.” -@CGJXXIII 🗣️🗣️
— Houston Stressans (@TexansCommenter) May 29, 2025
Y’all quit Stressan, we good‼️ pic.twitter.com/2OsB0u70O0
This brings up plenty of questions. Most notably, is this a current workout or was Garnder-Johnson recycling some footage from last offseason? While it also may be resourceful, it’s a strange look to explain why you haven’t shown up for your new team while wearing your previous team’s merchandise.
Part of the issue is that Gardner-Johnson hasn’t arrived at workouts, so maybe he hasn’t gotten his bag of SWAG for joining the Texans. But all could be forgiven if Gardner-Johnson has the impact the Texans are hoping for.
Gardner-Johnson spent two seasons with the Eagles, racking up six interceptions each during the 2022 and 2024 campaigns. While he logged 59 tackles last season, also posted the highest overall (77.0) and coverage grades (85.7) of his career according to Pro Football Focus.
With Sydney Brown and Reed Blankenship at the safety spots, Gardner-Johnson was expendable. But hopefully the Texans will be able to throw a new shirt on their expense account in the near future.