Report: C.J. Gardner-Johnson will participate in Texans' mandatory minicamp
Texans defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson reported to the team facility Monday ahead of Tuesday's start of a two-day mandatory minicamp, Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports.
Gardner-Johnson, who the Eagles traded to the Texans this offseason, skipped the team's voluntary offseason workouts to train on his own with his personal trainer.
'I've really been like to myself,' Gardner-Johnson told Wilson. 'The week I was there, it was very, very closer than places I've been before. Because this is a brand-new organization, trying to be the first team to put a bull on the ring. I had to step back. I'm too much sometimes. I think coming off a Super Bowl, it's a little too much for guys who feel like they're at the top of their profession right now because of who they are. That's respectable. So, we had to step back and then start to humble up, because now I'm at the bottom of the mountain with a team that's never been to the top. So, I can't bring the top of the mountain to the bottom of the mountain. I can't do that. It's like an avalanche. I don't want to cause a cluster---.'
Gardner-Johnson, 27, led the league in interceptions in 2022 with six and has 18 in his six-year career. He spent three seasons in New Orleans and was with the Eagles in 2022 and 2024 after a one-year stint in Detroit in 2023 that didn't go well.
The trade from the Eagles took him by surprise.
'I feel highly disrespected, but it's a business,' Gardner-Johnson said. ''Never was an All-Pro or Pro Bowl! Never!' [I] led the league in interceptions. What more do you want?
'People say, 'He's a hazard. He's this. He's that.' I never been no hazard, bro. They got no real issues on me. That black ball ain't going to work on me, because I got me a ring. I got me one. I got three more championships in me. I'm probably going to win the next three. I'm going to get me another Super Bowl this year. Just watch.'
The Texans have never made the AFC Championship Game, but they won the AFC South and a playoff game each of the past two seasons.
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