This offseason, the Detroit Lions signed veteran safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson – one of the top available free agent safeties in the league. But unfortunately, it looks like he suffered a pretty major injury before his season even got off to a start.
According to Detroit Lions reporter Tim Twentyman, C.J. Gardner-Johnson was carted off the field after sustaining an injury to his right leg on Monday morning.
“Veteran #Lions DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson went down with a right leg injury Monday & was carted off the field. He was visibly upset and team captains Buggs and Goff made it a point to go comfort him. Hoping for better news than it looked,” Twentyman said in a tweet.
A source described it as a non-contact knee injury for C.J. Gardner-Johnson, one of the big free-agent additions for Detroit. https://t.co/3Yol9RAYDn
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 24, 2023
League insider Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network offered a bit more context to the injury.
“A source described it as a non-contact knee injury for C.J. Gardner-Johnson, one of the big free-agent additions for Detroit,” Pelissero said.
It’s pretty horrible news for the Lions after the major offseason addition and obviously, a brutal break for Gardner-Johnson as he looked to prove himself with a new team. As a result, people had plenty to say about it on social media.
stop the camps, it's already too much https://t.co/PWx4nrIn3X
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) July 24, 2023
Oh man. https://t.co/a7hMDLU0nq
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 24, 2023
Watching guys go down in training camp continues to be a sober reminder of the reality of the NFL. That’s why it’s so important for these guys to get money while they can and maximize their value. https://t.co/APbZcWthFv
— Landon Oliver (@Landon3MR) July 24, 2023
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! https://t.co/VHpHBPldFA
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) July 24, 2023
This sucks for a million reasons. Worst part of training camp already off to a rough start https://t.co/Ni4kliW4re
— Brad Spielberger, Esq. (@SpielbergerBrad) July 24, 2023
Please be nothing major https://t.co/bHPBwJmBuU
— Honolulu Blues (@HonoluluBlues_) July 24, 2023
We just straight up can’t have nice things man https://t.co/H65P8imXkK
— Josh 〽️ (@UMFanJosh) July 24, 2023
Training Camp is so much fun, but this is the one thing you have to hold your breath on every day.
I'm not a big believer in scaling back reps or physicality at camp or preseason, but with every injury, coaches naturally get more cautious. https://t.co/dLJ9BGJ5Ni
— Greg Braggs Jr. (@GBraggsJr23) July 24, 2023
Hopefully, Gardner-Johnson can bounce back from the injury.
