Jets should have interest in former Super Bowl champion

If there is one position group on the New York Jets that is missing an enforcer, safety is certainly at the top of the list.

While concerns at edge rusher and linebacker have certainly become valid, the Jets’ safety issues go further back than any other position group on the unit. In 2025, New York has entrusted their room to players like Andre Cisco, Tony Adams, and rookie Malachi Moore.

The two veterans, Cisco and Adams, have struggled mightily with both tackling and pass coverage. Moore is a fourth-round rookie and has yet to play much.

With a record of 0-3, the Jets are in need of culture setters on their defense – players who have no issue ruffling feathers and can play good football when it matters most.

A player like that just hit the open market.

Jets safety issues leave defense in dire need

The Houston Texans’ release of Chauncey Gardner-Johnson sent shockwaves throughout the NFL. Houston had traded for the former Philadelphia Eagles safety during the offseason and had even restructured his contract to give him more money for the current year.

Getting released just three games into the regular season shows how much the outspoken “CJGJ” can be as much a detriment to himself as others. His release reportedly came after disagreements over his role, with Gardner-Johnson wanting more opportunities to blitz in DeMeco Ryans’ defense.

For a team like the Jets, though, it simply can’t get any worse.

Gardner-Johnson is a mercenary. He was a very good player for the New Orleans Saints before his antics prompted a trade to Philadelphia.

Since 2022, he’s played for a different team every year, but he has been to the playoffs each time, even winning a Super Bowl with Philadelphia this past season. A year after being allowed to walk in free agency, the Eagles brought back Gardner-Johnson in 2024. His rough antics and physical style of play were exactly what the organization needed after a monumental collapse the year prior.

Gardner-Johnson can play. There is absolutely no doubt about that.

But there’s also a reason why he is about to be on his sixth potential team in five seasons. From playing “off script” and not within the confines of a scheme, to his abrasive attitude toward teammates, Gardner-Johnson has worn out some of the greatest defensive minds in the league. From Vic Fangio to DeMeco Ryans to even Aaron Glenn in 2023, coordinators struggled to get Gardner-Johnson to play within structure.

As important a piece as he was to their Super Bowl, Philadelphia still traded him just a month later. That says something about the Eagles’ standards as a title-contending team, and just how volatile Gardner-Johnson is.

Unlike those title-contending teams, the Jets don’t really have to worry about playing within structure in the secondary. The unit is already one of the worst in the league, doesn’t have an identity, and through three weeks, struggles to have much of a mean streak.

It simply couldn’t get any worse.

That’s why Gardner-Johnson is worth the risk for an identity-starved Jets defense.

It may not be for long, but the Jets need someone to help rebuild the swagger of their once-proud defense. There are few in the NFL who have shown that ability more than CJGJ.