The Chicago Bears might have gotten one of the most underrated signings of the 2025 NFL season with defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
After three cornerbacks were placed on IR, the Bears knew they needed to act quickly to try to save their depleted secondary, and that's where Gardner-Johnson came to the rescue. Instead of playing his typical safety position, which he has played his whole career, Chicago moved him to nickel, and he has excelled there.
Gardner-Johnson is coming off his best game in a Bears uniform with two sacks in the 24-20 win over the New York Giants in Week 10. After three sacks in his first two games in Chicago, Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen told the media precisely why the team brought him into the building and how he was a good fit for the team.
“Listen, I’ve been with him and my experience with him was really positive.”
Gardner-Johnson has been the perfect fit for Chicago
In just two games with the Bears, Gardner-Johnson has racked up 15 tackles, three quarterback hits, three tackles for loss, three sacks, and one forced fumble. The Bears have used him on multiple different blitz packages and have been dominant every single time off the line of scrimmage.
The mentality that Gardner-Johnson has also makes him a perfect fit for the defense. There are some guys like Jaquan Brisker who like to take a little trash in the secondary, and that has always been the MO of Gardner-Johnson his whole career.
There's a confident swagger that Gardner-Johnson has brought back to a secondary that was missing throughout the season. Not having Jaylon Johnson or Kyler Gordon for most of the year would affect that, but Gardner-Johnson has brought that back with this unit.
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Chicago's secondary is not where it needs to be, but there is improvement within the unit, and a chance exists that if Johnson and Gordon return later this season, they will only get better thanks to Gardner-Johnson's presence.