On August 30th, the Philadelphia Eagles completed a blockbuster trade with the New Orleans Saints for fourth-year safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. Gardner-Johnson had been a productive player for New Orleans and was one of the NFL’s best up-and-coming safeties, but the Saints couldn’t afford to keep him around. With that, Eagles’ GM Howie Roseman swooped in just two weeks from the start of the season to fill one of the team’s biggest needs in a massive way.
In New Orleans, Gardner-Johnson was a bit of a Swiss-army knife. Although his primary position is safety, the Saints played him all over the field, most often at slot corner. However, going to Philadelphia, he was to be used in a more traditional safety role, a position that he has plenty of experience playing. However, two weeks into the season, Eagles fans are still wondering what they really have in Gardner-Johnson.
Gardner-Johnson’s Early Season Struggles
Through two games, Gardner-Johnson simply hasn’t lived up to expectations. Does being traded just a couple weeks from the first game have something to do with that? Yeah, probably, but for the caliber player that he is, I think most expected a little more out of him.
Now let’s dive into the stats. According to Pro Football Focus, Gardner-Johnson has played 128 total snaps this season, 90 of those in coverage. Of those 90 coverage snaps, he has been targeted ten times giving up seven completions and a touchdown, giving him a 45.8 coverage grade for the year. This is the first problem: for someone who has spent so much time as a slot corner, why are his coverage stats so poor?
Next, let’s look at the second most important role of a safety: tackling. Gardner-Johnson has made nine solo tackles this season as well as one assisted tackle. Ten tackles is fine, but considering he has played 37 snaps in the box, but you would expect that number to be a bit higher. However, things become problematic when you look at his four missed tackles. Gardner-Johnson has missed nearly a third of his tackles thus far leading to a 32.1 tackling grade from PFF. Now Gardner-Johnson has never been an amazing tackler. Through his three years in New Orleans, his highest tackling grade came in his rookie year at just 46.0. However, 32.1 is still his lowest mark yet, which is disappointing for a safety asked to play down so much.
So, what’s the verdict on Gardner-Johnson?
The answer to this question is pretty simple: the verdict is still out. It’s been two weeks. Granted, they haven’t been pretty, but it’s been two weeks, nonetheless. Gardner-Johnson is still getting acclimated to playing in Philadelphia, so early season lumps are to be expected. He’s been a great player through his first three seasons, but in the same breath, it’s only been three seasons, he’s still very young. His role is different now than it was with his old team. There are a lot of factors at play effecting his performance, factors which should dissipate as the season progresses. In short, it’s too early to overreact.
However, Gardner Johnson does appear to be the weak point in an otherwise stout defensive backfield, at least so far. Being a part of a unit containing Darius Slay, James Bradberry, and Avonte Maddox has helped mask some of his early struggles. The rest of the Eagles defense has looked solid as a unit, especially in week two–it is Gardner-Johnson who remains as the lone question mark.