C.J. Gardner-Johnson hasn’t exactly softened his stance on the Texans.
The veteran safety, now with the Buffalo Bills, revisited his short and rocky Houston stint during training camp earlier this week and made it clear the way things ended still bothers him. Gardner-Johnson said the Texans never fully explained what went wrong after they cut him following their Week 3 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars last season.
“I’m glad you asked me about that Texans s--t, you got me pissed now, appreciate you,”Gardner-Johnson said to the media after a Bills practice. “Y’all still ain’t got no confirmed real story from what really happened; let’s talk about that.
Where’s the real stories at? What did I really do?"
He kept going from there, pushing back on the idea that the breakup was simply about fit.
"They released me because I wasn’t jelling with the team and I didn’t fit well. Well, why hasn’t the coach spoke up about it?
After the loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, they decided I didn’t fit well. It was already starting 0-3, so how can it possibly be on one person?"
This isn’t the first time Gardner-Johnson has aired his grievances about Houston. Earlier this offseason, he said part of the reason for getting into a spat was a friend of one of the Houston executives.
The Texans had hoped the move would pay off. They sent former first-round pick Kenyon Green to the Philadelphia Eagles to bring Gardner-Johnson in last offseason, expecting the former Super Bowl champion to strengthen the back end of the secondary.
Instead, the fit never really clicked. Gardner-Johnson had trouble getting comfortable in the defensive system, tension reportedly grew between him and members of the organization, and Houston’s rough start helped push the team toward a quick decision to move on.
What happened after that Week 3 loss made the timing look even more dramatic. Houston won 12 of its next 15 games, surged back into the playoff picture and later picked up a Wild Card win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Now Gardner-Johnson is back in the spotlight for a different reason: the Bills open against the Texans in Week 1, and he’s not pretending it’s just another game.
"[In Week 1] Josh [Allen] will handle it up and the defense will handle it up," Gardner-Johnson said about Buffalo's Week 1 matchup vs. the Texans. "That’s a good team.
I’m not putting anything past them. Just the situation of how they handled me.
It just wasn’t respectful. As a grown man, I feel like, when you see me, you see me.”
For Houston, that means the opener carries more than the usual early-season pressure. For Gardner-Johnson, it’s another chance to face the team he says never treated him right.
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