PITTSFORD, N.Y. — For now, it’s quiet.
Outspoken safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson left practice Saturday morning with a non-contact injury, and the Buffalo Bills have declined to offer any information about it. Gardner-Johnson, the unfiltered chatterbox who frequently livestreams on Twitch, didn’t emerge with insight right away. His agents did not respond to messages seeking comment.
But a league source, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive health matter, confirmed to The Athletic that Gardner-Johnson suffered a lower calf strain in his right leg. He went down after an end-around pitch to wide receiver Skyler Bell during the Bills’ third training camp practice at St. John Fisher University. When the whistle blew to end the play — players aren’t wearing pads or tackling yet — Gardner-Johnson slowed to a jog and then fell to the grass, where he grabbed the back of his right foot/ankle.
The NFL’s 2022 interceptions leader eventually got to his feet and tried to hop off the field on his left leg until draping his arms over two athletic trainers for assistance. A stream of Bills ran over to tap his helmet. After an evaluation in the medical tent, a cart whisked him to the Bills’ locker room.
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Some of Gardner-Johnson’s teammates expressed optimism based on what they observed.
Left tackle Dion Dawkins and safety Cole Bishop stood over Gardner-Johnson as the training staff gave initial aid on the field.
“He got up, and he did his thing,” Dawkins said. “He can put weight on his leg, so he can walk. We all know that injury is 100 percent in this league, but he’s all right.
“I got the message from coaches that he’s all right, and they’re going to do their protocol. He’ll get his (treatment) like he has to get. He’ll be right back in the loop, but C.J. is OK.”
Defensive lineman Michael Hoecht, coming off a torn Achilles tendon, noticed a positive sign in how Gardner-Johnson left the practice field.
“What’s hopeful for me,” Hoecht said, “is I think I saw him try to put a little pressure on it, which he definitely wouldn’t do” with an Achilles tear. “But he’s in good hands, and we’re all hoping the best for him.”
The Bills are off Sunday with no media access. The next opportunity to ask coach Joe Brady for an update will be his scheduled Monday morning news conference.
But we could hear from Gardner-Johnson before then.
He struggles to keep thoughts to himself. He needed to be told by Brady to shut down a Twitch livestream from inside the locker room at the start of training camp. Gardner-Johnson also streamed himself donating $20,000 from his foundation to help a Bills staffer pay her student-loan debt.
On the field, he has built a career-long reputation for exhausting opponents and teammates alike. In The Athletic’s anonymous annual player poll, he has been voted the NFL’s biggest trash talker and most annoying player. He has been fined 13 times for $194,924 over his seven NFL seasons.
When Buffalo signed him in March to a one-year, $3.5 million contract, it was his eighth roster in 3 1/2 years.
“You just say a quick prayer for him, obviously,” safety Damar Hamlin said. “That’s one of our guys. He brings the energy. He’s an electric player. We all know who C.J. is, but as a person, he’s such a good dude. He’ll give you the shirt off his back if he could.
“You never want to see that happen to somebody like that. But prayers to him. We hope he’s OK. I’ve got a good feeling that, God willing, he will be OK.”
