C.J. Gardner-Johnson is looking for his next opportunity. The Buffalo Bills announced Tuesday that they released Gardner-Johnson after he served his one-game suspension for spitting at another player. A former fourth-round draft pick by the New Orleans Saints, out of Florida, Gardner-Johnson has shown plenty of playmaking ability in the NFL -- but a penchant for trash talk and undisciplined play has led to more penalties than many teams can tolerate. Friction with coaches and teammates at different stops has worn out his welcome a couple of times, too.
It's been a roller coaster ride for Gardner-Johnson ever since the Saints traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles back in 2022. Like New Orleans, the Eagles balked at guaranteeing him a lot of money
on a long-term deal, so he signed with the Detroit Lions for 2023 before returning to Philadelphia in 2024 (where he won a Super Bowl). Gardner-Johnson's new Eagles contract allowed the team trade him to the Houston Texans in 2025; Houston cut him, the Baltimore Ravens practice squad picked him up for a week, and then let him go, at which point he reunited with his old coach Dennis Allen on the Chicago Bears. Buffalo signed him this spring.
We'll wait and see what's next for Gardner-Johnson. Maybe the Bills are just bumping him down to their practice squad. Maybe they've finally had enough. It's been exactly 600 days from the Eagles-Texans trade that sent Gardner-Johnson to Houston, a span that has seen him join five different teams. He could soon be on his sixth if another squad signs him.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Ex-Saints DB cut by Bills after suspension, his fifth team in 600 days
