The Buffalo Payments are not any strangers to high quality security play. For the higher a part of the final decade-plus, Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer held down the final degree of the protection, and every participant made an All-Professional crew a minimum of as soon as of their time with the membership.
Now, each Poyer and Hyde are not with the membership. Hyde is formally retired, and Poyer stays unsigned after a productive 2025 season with Buffalo. He has mentioned publicly that he want to retire as a member of the Payments, and he additionally knew coming into final season that his taking part in days have been numbered. It doesn’t appear possible that Poyer will play once more.
With each of Buffalo’s high safeties for a lot of the ‘20s on the finish of their careers, it’s time for a brand new crop of gamers to take the mantle and proceed the run of sturdy play Payments’ followers count on from the positional grouping. In in the present day’s installment of our “91 gamers in 91 days” collection, we focus on a veteran signed to assist a brand new protection take maintain this season.
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Identify: C.J. Gardner-Johnson
Peak/Weight: 5’11” 208 lbs.
Age: 28 (29 on 12/20/2026)
Expertise/Draft: Chosen by the New Orleans Saints within the fourth spherical (No. 105 total) of the 2019 NFL Draft
Acquired: Signed with Buffalo on 3/13/2026
Monetary state of affairs (per Spotrac): Gardner-Johnson signed a one-year deal value $3.5 million this offseason; of that complete, $3.015 million is assured. The latter quantity would be the lifeless cap cost Buffalo carries if Gardner-Johnson is launched. His cap hit for the season is $2.4 million if he makes the 53-man roster.
2025 Recap: Gardner-Johnson was traded to the Houston Texans from the Philadelphia Eagles in March, and whereas he handled a leg damage in coaching camp that triggered him to overlook time, he opened as one in every of Houston’s two beginning safeties. He began the Texans’ first three video games, all losses, totaling 15 tackles. After that sport, Gardner-Johnson was launched. Reviews fluctuate about why he was launched—the Texans mentioned it stemmed from his incapacity to adapt to DeMeco Ryans’ defensive scheme and his pointing fingers at teammates for protection errors slightly than accepting blame himself. Gardner-Johnson denied these allegations. He signed with the Baltimore Ravens follow squad on October 7, however was launched every week later with out having made an look for the crew. Gardner-Johnson then signed with the Chicago Bears on October 29; he changed slot nook Kyler Gordon, and he performed very nicely with the Bears total. In ten video games, he totaled 51 tackles, three sacks, 5 tackles for loss, two interceptions, 4 cross breakups, one compelled fumble, and 5 QB hits. In Chicago’s closing common season sport, he suffered a concussion, which triggered him to overlook the Bears’ victory within the Wild Card Spherical over the Inexperienced Bay Packers. He returned to motion the next week, totaling 4 tackles in Chicago’s 20-17 additional time loss to the Los Angeles Rams within the Divisional Spherical.
Positional outlook: Gardner-Johnson is one in every of six gamers listed at security on the present roster. Cole Bishop, Damar Hamlin, Geno Stone, Jalen Kilgore, and Wande Owens are the others. Sam Franklin is listed at defensive again, however he’s a security when he’s not doing his essential work on particular groups. Jordan Hancock can be listed at defensive again, and he’s a security/slot nook hybrid.
2026 Offseason: Gardner-Johnson was carted off the sphere with a calf pressure on August 1, and whereas preliminary fears that he suffered an Achilles tear have been confirmed false, the damage has held him again a bit. Two days after he returned from that calf damage, he suffered one other leg damage. Head coach Joe Brady didn’t present a timeline for the damage, however he didn’t appear involved that it will result in a long-term difficulty.
2026 Season outlook: If Gardner-Johnson is wholesome, he has the power to serve a number of roles in new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard’s protection. He’s completely able to taking part in the deep-third of the sphere, however he may match man-to-man with each tight ends and vast receivers, and he may sneak in an blitz sizzling off the nook to trigger chaos within the backfield. General, Gardner-Johnson is an entire soccer participant who has an edge that, frankly, the Payments might need been missing over the previous few years.
There’s no query that he’ll begin alongside Cole Bishop so long as they each are wholesome. The issue is that, at current, neither of them is wholesome. Minor preseason dings don’t fear me, however the alternative to play in a brand new scheme earlier than the true video games begin is one thing I hope that the majority, if not all, of Buffalo’s defensive starters can benefit from in some unspecified time in the future in these subsequent few weeks.
Gardner-Johnson’s damage historical past is in depth, containing foot, knee, calf, and pectoral accidents which have triggered him to overlook time. He additionally suffered a lacerated kidney throughout a November 2022 contest. He’s performed only one full slate of video games in his profession, and that was his rookie season in 2019. If he’s wholesome, he has the potential to be an amazing add for the Payments this season. Nonetheless, staying wholesome has confirmed to be a problem for him all through his profession.