Brad Holmes has invested serious resources in his secondary overhaul the last two seasons, from offering a big money extension to Tracy Walker and using a third-round pick on Kirby Joseph last year, then spending unlike ever on Cam Sutton and Emmanuel Mosley during the early days of free agency this year.
That’s a lot.
Still not done yet, Holmes sent shock waves through the league when he connected CJ Gardner-Johnson — the league’s leader in interceptions, and one of the best players still available in free agency regardless of position — to a one-year deal. up to $8 million.
Holmes told reporters Monday during the NFL owners’ meetings in Phoenix. “You see he’s a real man.”
Anyone who pays any kind of attention can see that. In the fourth round of the 2019 draft, Gardner-Johnson immediately made his way into the Saints’ starting lineup and was named to the All-Rookie Team. He has been a full-time starter ever since, and a staple for three divisional titles in four years. He was last seen starring in the Super Bowl for the Eagles, and led the league in interceptions despite missing five games with a torn kidney.
Philadelphia tried to hang on to him and bid for several years, but when Gardner Johnson sat him down, the club moved in other directions.
“We’ve talked to his representatives about bringing him back, and we’ve also talked to them about the fact that we have limited resources,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said at owners’ meetings. “It’s no secret that relatively soon we would like to extend the full-back position (Jalen Hurz). Our whole type of roster-building here will shift a little bit from a junior midfielder to a midfielder on a long-term deal. Not that we’ve done anything or anything. But it’s clear our goal is to keep Jalen here for a long time, so we run out of resources.
“We were very clear that at some point we were going to have to go in a different direction. Those first couple of days, we tried, and then we pivoted.”
This was the pivot to massive gains for the Lions.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn coached Gardner Johnson while he was in New Orleans, and liked the player so much that he’s been interested in Gardner Johnson since he arrived in Detroit three seasons ago. Publicly, privately, whatever. Johnson was considered by Glenn Gardner to be a model of what a defensive back should be in his scheme.
As such, the Lions – who had just invested good money in Walker and Day 2 Pick in Joseph – thought they weren’t going to be in one of the year’s top lockers. Certainly not after spending big bucks on the backs of corners like Sutton and Mosley.
But then negotiations broke down between Gardner Johnson and Philadelphia, so Holmes just started calling his agent.
Like every day.
“Usually my trips home are my decompression space, but I kept calling Kevin[Conner]just kind of checking in and saying, ‘Hey man, what’s going on?'” Holmes said. This has just kept getting worse and worse. Then it escalated all the way up until I want to say (March 17th), we had a good chat, and then (the next day) we pursued it again, only internally as a group, and until (the next morning), it was just another one of those routine calls. And it escalated “until we kind of got into a position where we could get it done.”
Gardner Johnson agreed to a one-year deal that could be worth up to $8 million if all incentives are hit. Only about $6.25 million of the deal is secured.
For one of the best defenders in the game, the guy who’s played with this machine before, in this scheme before, in this culture before, the big hitter who has this “dog”, this is a bargain.
“It’s huge,” said Holmes. “I was really excited. It was about Sunday night, it was about 10 at night, the kids were sleeping upstairs. The wife was asleep. It woke the whole family up when we were done. Just a player of that caliber and how he fits like a glove in our defense and what Which he’s going to bring into our culture, our style and how we want to play. I had a great script from Aaron Glenn as soon as it happened. It was a good feeling and again, just another piece to add and support the outfield. It’s not just our back end, it’s our defense as a whole. Just a certain way we want to play Defense, and he fits that on a tee.”
Now it is just a matter of where he will play.
The Lions also invested big money in Sutton—his $33 million, three-year deal is the largest deal awarded to any outside player during the Holmes era—while also offering a one-year, $6 million deal to Moseley. Both can flex into the slot, but both are expected to vie to start on the outside, putting pressure on returnees Jerry Jacobs and Jeff Okuda. One can head to the hatch.
But now there’s the matter of Gardner-Johnson, a stellar place under Glenn in New Orleans who’s now the reigning league leader in interceptions after an impressive 12 games primarily at safety last season.
The Lions weren’t looking for safety in free agency. They ended up with one of the best players around, and he’s going to turn the defense around no matter where he lands.
“In the words of Galen Ramsey, I am him,” said Gardner Johnson after signing his deal in Detroit. “I just feel like when you have the opportunity to do multiple things, you’re not locked into one thing, you can just express your footballing personality more than talk about what you can do. So I guess I have a chance to go play for nickels, I’ll dominate for nickels. I get a chance to go play Safe, Emma dominates the safety. So I think no matter where she puts me, it’s going to go down, it’s going to go down all the game.”
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