For the earlier part of February, we’ll be looking at some of the Lions free agents who’s potential of coming back to Detroit seems up in the air right now. We’ll be doing these as pros and cons pieces. So far we’ve covered Jonah Jackson. Today we cover C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
Pros
Gardner-Johnson had an immediate effect on the Lions culture on defense in a very positive way. His outspoken nature helped create a much needed swagger on defense that gave this group a lot of confidence. Gardner-Johnson was a leader on defense for sure and he did it in a way that isn’t easily attainable by just signing someone else.
While Gardner-Johnson only played three regular season games, he was tremendous in those games and made a big difference. He did have a bad game in the NFC championship game, but he was very good against Tampa and had decent game against the Rams too.
Gardner-Johnson lived up to his ball hawk reputation in the six games he played. He walked away with two interceptions and two pass breakups.
Cons
The only real big cons with Gardner-Johnson is that the trash talk was cool until it got to a point in which Gardner-Johnson crossed the line with a personal foul on Deebo Samuel. Moments like that are unnecessary and it cost the team in a huge game. You just can’t have it.
The injury is the other. Not that I think there’s a chance that it could happen again, it’s that the sample size was so small that maybe you worry that if you bring him back and he’s fully healthy, that maybe he doesn’t live up to the play he showed in the short time that he was playing.
Tackling was an issue for Gardner-Johnson when he was playing. He was great in coverage and did his job as a safety well, but when it came time to tackle, he had some troubles . He missed four tackles in the playoffs and three of them were in the biggest game of the year. He also missed four tackles in the three regular season games he played.
My Ruling
You have to bring to him back. It’s as simple as that. He had a very bad NFC Championship game, but you just can’t set a players value by their one really bad game. He was otherwise very good and a positive part of this team. The only thing that gives pause is what the contract could be. Gardner-Johnson looked good when healthy, but he did he do enough to warrant a multi year deal or could this be another one year type thing?
Either way, Gardner-Johnson is a big part of the identity of this team. That trash talking and high confidence is important, even if some of you don’t like it.