Injury Analysis: Buffalo Bills S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson

Looking to add safety help after the release of Taylor Rapp, the Buffalo Bills signed S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to a one-year deal on Thursday. 

Gardner-Johnson comes to Buffalo after six different NFL stops but making the playoffs in every year except one, making two Super Bowls and winning one. He has been at times controversial and difficult to work with leading to his frequent moving, but his play on the field has positively impacted each team he’s played with. 

Read below for a full injury breakdown and analysis of Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. 

Injury History

2019 New Orleans Saints

Concussion, Week 15, missed 0 games.

Gardner-Johnson suffered a concussion sometime in the second half and was forced to exit the game. He was able to progress through the concussion protocol the following week and had no designation. 

Forearm/Hip, Week 16, missed 0 games.

Gardner-Johnson was limited to Wednesday practice before returning in full Thursday and Friday. 

2020 Saints

No publicly reported injuries. 

2021 Saints

Knee, Week 1, missed 1 game.

Gardner-Johnson suffered a knee injury after playing 70 percent of the snaps in Week 1 forcing him to miss the following week. 

Right Foot/Toe, Week 9, on IR, missed 4 games.

He was placed on injured reserve after suffering a foot injury in the second quarter trying to tackle Atlanta’s Russell Gage. He was spotted on X several days later wearing a CAM boot and placed on injured reserve. Similar reports around this time state that he had turf toe which led him to miss time. 

Toe, Week 15, missed 0 games. 

He was on the injury report for a toe designation limited that Wednesday before returning to full the rest of the week. This may have been related to the previous reports of turf toe. 

2022 Philadelphia Eagles

Lacerated Kidney, Week 12, missed 5 games.

Gardner-Johnson was injured in the first quarter when he collided with Packers WR Christian Watson. He missed the following game and was then placed on injured reserve.

2023 Detroit Lions

Right knee injury, Preseason, missed 0 games. 

Early in training camp, Gardner-Johnson went down with a non-contact right knee injury that was initially feared to be a season ending ligament tear. Fortunately, all testing was negative and he was day-to-day. 

Right Pectoral tear, Week 2, on IR, missed 14 games. 

Gardner-Johnson suffered a right pectoral tear that was described as a clean tear in the first quarter of Week 2. He was able to finish the game playing 70 snaps before undergoing surgery to repair the damage. He was placed on injured reserve and missed 14 total games. Here is a clip of how he injured the muscle. He was able to return in the final week to play in the playoffs. 

2024 Eagles

Foot, Week 2, missed 0 games.

He popped up on the injury report on the short week with a foot injury on Thursday. He was unable to practice Thursday or Friday and was officially questionable before suiting up on Sunday and playing in every defensive snap that week. 

2025 Houston Texans/Baltimore Ravens/Chicago Bears

Right knee, Preseason.

While trying to tackle John Metchie III during training camp, he suffered a right knee injury that was feared to be an ACL tear. Fortunately, he avoided any damage and was able to be available Week 1. 

Knee, Week 16, missed 0 games. 

Gardner-Johnson suffered a knee injury late in the fourth quarter and was initially doubtful to return before he was unable to finish. He returned the following week to play his usual number of snaps. 

Concussion, Week 18, missed 1 game.

He was placed in the concussion protocol during the season finale loss to the Detroit Lions. He missed the Wild Card win over the Green Bay Packers before returning for the Divisional Round game against the Los Angeles Rams. 

Buffalo Bills Injury Analysis

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson has missed 25 games since entering the league in 2019. 14 of those games were due to his pectoral tear, another 5 due to his lacerated kidney, and another 4 due to his foot/turf toe injury. 

Looking at his injuries as a whole, nothing drastically sticks out as a huge concern. Bills fans have seen multiple pectoral strains and tears occur to various players including Matt Milano, Jon Feliciano, DaQuan Jones, and Damar Hamlin. We’ve largely seen each of them return to their prior level of performance and Gardner-Johnson showed that following his 2023 injury. 

The lacerated kidney was rather serious at the time due to the hit he took but once that healed, there aren’t any future concerns for re-injury. Simply one of the risks of playing a high-contact sport. 

He has had two concussions in his career but they have been far apart and don’t appear to have any correlation with each other. Considering the time elapsed between the two, I don’t see any concerns moving forward other than acknowledging how many he has had in the event he has another one. 

I would want to know more about his foot/toe injuries especially the one that says that he had turf toe would be more concerning if this was recent. This was five years ago and hasn’t appeared to give him any issues from his time on the injury report. 

Finally, he’s had several injuries to that right knee which could have some degenerative changes but nothing appears to be lingering from what has been reported. I don’t have any immediate concerns about his knee unless I had more specific information or reports. 

He seems to be a very talented player but from what I’ve read and heard about him, he may be a challenging person to be around. I think we have all had co-workers or know someone that is very good at their job, but can be a prick or someone you tolerate in small doses. I don’t know him personally and I certainly won’t make my own judgments on who he is as a person, but he shows he still has value by the fact that teams continue to sign him to NFL contracts. I’d rather have him on my team and pushing everyone around him to be better than go against him on Sunday’s.

Final Thoughts

Injury wise, there aren’t many concerns I have moving forward. Nothing sticks out and he appears to bring his best on Sunday’s. Whether this meshes in a locker room is something for the locker room to address. This is the type of player that was never really considered under Sean McDermott, but this iteration of the Bills needs a little more grit if they expect to have another deep postseason run. 

His contract allows the Bills to move on if injury or personality conflict occurs too. He has played in multiple Super Bowls, has lots of postseason experience, and isn’t afraid to be himself on the field. 

Overall, it’s an interesting signing after understanding the types of players that were typically brought in under Sean McDermott. But this is Joe Brady’s operation and things will change. 

I’d like to welcome Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to Buffalo and to remain healthy this season. 

Top Photo Credit: Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times