C.J. Gardner-Johnson happy to be in Super Bowl after year of ‘hell’ with Detroit Lions

NEW ORLEANS — After a year’s hiatus with the Detroit Lions, C.J. Gardner-Johnson is happy to be back with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Gardner-Johnson will play in the Super Bowl on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs for the second time in three years after spending what he called a year of “hell” with the Lions.

“It was hell,” Gardner-Johnson told the Free Press at Super Bowl 59 media availability Thursday at the New Orleans Hilton. “I got lied to, so it was, whatever. I got told, respectfully, I was going to get brought back and didn’t get brought back. And offseason went real for me, signing back here because I wasn’t really tripping on it. It all worked out.

Johnson said his disdain for the Lions doesn’t extend to everyone. He wished former Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn well in his new job as head coach of the New York Jets and called wide receiver Jameson Williams “the best receiver on that team.”

“(I) know so,” he said. “People get caught up in the hype, but I get caught up in the truth.”

Gardner-Johnson addressed a social media post he sent last spring when he wrote he was “Tired of these Detroit fans” harassing him and said he and Williams were the only Lions that had “the streets of Detroit behind us. … All the other guys on the team was scared to go outside to kick it (with) the city.”

“It’s true,” he said. “Like, when you playing for teams like Detroit, New Orleans and Philly, you got to be able to get outside and adapt with the culture. There’s only a couple of guys in that locker room that did it. It’s not like a derogatory statement, it’s just being honest. I got so much love cause I’m actually out in the city and enjoying people, the culture, the music, the food. There’s only a couple people can do that.”