Bills Releasing Safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson After Spitting Suspension
Buffalo moves on from the veteran safety days after he served a one-game ban for spitting at a Raiders player
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson's run in Buffalo is over. The Bills are releasing the veteran safety, NFL Network's Ari Meirov reported Tuesday, passing along the news from Jordan Schultz.
The move comes right after Gardner-Johnson finished serving a one-game suspension. The NFL suspended him without pay after he spit at an opponent during the second quarter of Buffalo's 33-30 win over the Raiders on Oct. 18. He was ejected from that game, and the league cited its unsportsmanlike conduct rule in the ban. He missed Sunday's game while serving it.
The #Bills are releasing safety CJ Gardner-Johnson, per @Schultz_Report.View on X →
Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate): The #Bills are releasing safety CJ Gardner-Johnson, per @Schultz_Report.
The incident made a messy week worse for Buffalo. Defensive back Sam Franklin Jr. was also suspended one game for spitting at a Raiders player late in the same game, and head coach Joe Brady said afterward that Gardner-Johnson knew those actions can't happen and that it isn't the standard the Bills play with.
On the field, Gardner-Johnson started all six games he played for Buffalo, but his play had been viewed as underwhelming. Cutting him rather than restoring him to the 53-man roster clears the way for Cole Bishop and the rest of the safety room, and it leaves the Bills with an open question in the back end as the Nov. 10 trade deadline approaches.
Gardner-Johnson, a former Saints, Eagles and Lions starter, is a vested veteran, so he'll be free to sign anywhere once he's released. A team looking for safety depth could take a flier, but the spitting incident and his reputation will follow him onto the market.