For those who thought that CJ Gardner-Johnson's tenure with the Houston Texans during the 2025 season was brief, wait until you hear about his stint with the Baltimore Ravens. In fairness, you may have missed it entirely, so in case you have, here's the full timeline:
Gardner-Johnson was released by Houston on September 23rd after a tumultuous couple of months in which it seemed he managed to rub everyone within the Texans organization the wrong way. Two weeks later, the veteran safety had signed on with the Baltimore Ravens, who were in desperate need of healthy and capable bodies in the secondary. But evidently, CJGJ wasn't 'capable' enough to last more than a week with the Ravens.
Just one week after he arrived in Baltimore, Gardner-Johnson is no longer a Raven. Per ESPN insider Adam Schefter, the decision was a mutual one made by both the Ravens and Gardner-Johnson's agent Kevin Conner after Baltimore traded for Alohi Gilman from the Los Angeles Chargers.
“After the Ravens traded for a safety, we were looking for a clearer path to play,” Conner relayed to Schefter.
The continued problem here for CJ Gardner-Johnson is the optics of so many changes of scenery over the last 24 months. The Texans and Ravens represented the third and fourth teams that Gardner-Johnson had played for since the start of the 2023 NFL season. And while getting the axe in Houston -- a team whose strength defensively may be it's secondary -- isn't necessarily the strongest indictment of his capacity for contributing during the 2025 campaign, not being able to stick with banged-up Ravens certainly is.
Texans secondary is just fine without CJ Gardner-Johnson
The offseason addition of CJ Gardner-Johnson wasn't so much a necessity for the Houston Texans... it was an example of the rich getting richer. We're talking about a secondary that already boasts four players 26-and-under who have Pro Bowl potential. Gardner-Johnson was just supposed to be the cherry on top of the delicious and dominant sundae that is the Texans defense.
Character concerns and scheme issues railroaded that marriage quickly, and now for Houston, it's next man up. But again, when you have four players as talented as Derek Stingley Jr., Kamari Lassiter, Calen Bullock and Jalen Pitre are, finding that fifth man isn't as much of a concern, and thus far, veterans MJ Stewart and Tremon Smith have held up just fine.