C.J. Gardner-Johnson ranks in the all-time elite tier for defensive backs — a career that places Gardner-Johnson in the top 3% of all players at the position. The Knox value model assigns Gardner-Johnson a career score of 78, reflecting sustained impact that most players at the position never approach.

On the boards· Appears on 3 boards

SAFBUF#22ACT

C.J. Gardner-Johnson

Top 3% all-time defensive backsAll-Time Great👑 #1 Defensive Back · 2022 📈 Late Developer · 2024

Height5'11"

Weight208 lb

Career Value · VORP

149 career value over replacement — #661 all-time of 4,695. 24.8/season above a replacement-level S.

Career Profile

Led league 1×2 top-10

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #105 (Rd 4) · NO · 2019 · +42.3 vs expected KV-H

78actual

35.7 expected · Δ+42.3

💔+61.5 stolen VORP·2.48 szns lost

Fan Rating

Rate C.J. Gardner-Johnson — All-Time

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Compare C.J. Gardner-Johnson vs Player Report data error

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 26% of the all-time Interceptions leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

26% of the all-time Interceptions leader26

1 category ≥25% of the all-time leader33

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leader at this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 91%.

Encyclopedia Coverage7/8 data layers

StatVault aggregates multiple open-licensed and proprietary sources into a single profile. The depth indicator above shows which layers are available for this player.

Bio & DraftBirth date, height/weight, draft round/pick, college — sourced from nflverse players.csv (CC-BY 4.0). Covers all NFL eras.

Season Stats (1999–present)Week-by-week box scores aggregated to season totals: passing, rushing, receiving, defense. Source: nflverse player_stats. Counting stats are exact; rates are derived.

Advanced (EPA, 1999–present)Not available for this player

Snap Counts (2012–present)Offensive, defensive, and special-teams snap counts with team-share percentages. Essential for OL and situational players. Source: nflverse snap_counts.

Defensive StatsMaterial defensive production only: playmaking stats, 10+ tackles, or 50+ defensive snaps. Source: nflverse player_stats and snap_counts.

College StatsCollege attribution is present, but this profile artifact does not yet carry a parsed college stat table.

NFL Combine / Pro Day40-yard dash, vertical, broad jump, 3-cone, shuttle, bench press. Source: nflverse combine.csv.

Where this data comes from

Modern-era stats (1999+) come from nflverse's open data releases. Pre-1999 seasons are backfilled additively from Wikipedia and NFL.com's own official season pages — never from rights-restricted sources.

nflverse — CC-BY 4.0 — attribution required
Wikipedia — Facts extracted under Feist v. Rural Telephone; courtesy CC-BY-SA attribution
NFL.com — Official league site; facts extracted under Feist, courtesy attribution

Methodology · Trust Center

Per-Snap Impact

Defensive Backs · proprietary · 2012+

Elite

SIS

Disruption / 100 snaps:2.705See leaderboard →

Disruption/1002.705Snap share84.7%Def snaps4,990ReliableCV 0.31

Production per snap — the box score normalized by opportunity. SIS is z-scored within defensive backs, shrinkage-regularized so small samples don't spike, over the NFL snap-count era (2012+).

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average defensive backs aging curve. Group peak age: 21. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Combine · 2019

Percentiles compare each raw measurement against position peers, the full combine pool, and the same draft class where enough samples exist.

4.48s

40-Yard

36"

Vertical

117"

Broad Jump

17 reps

Bench

7.03s

3-Cone

4.20s

Shuttle

Understanding These Stats

Defense

Tkl / Solo / Ast — Combined tackles (Solo + ½ Assist). Solo = unassisted. Ast = helped by a teammate.

TFL — Tackles for loss — stops made behind the line of scrimmage (run stuffs + QB contain).

QBHits — QB hits — any legal contact on the quarterback, including but beyond sacks (hurries that land).

Sk — Sacks — tackled the QB behind the line for a loss. Half-sacks shared between defenders.

Dis — Disruption plays = sacks + QB hits + TFL. The composite pass-rush / run-stop impact stat for one season. Elite pass rushers post 30+ disruption plays per season.

Int — Interceptions caught by this defender.

PD — Passes defended — deflections and breakups.

FF / FR — Forced fumbles (stripped or jarred loose). Fumble Recoveries.

TD — Defensive touchdowns — picks, fumble returns, safeties returned.

Sfty — Safeties — tackled the ball carrier in their own end zone.

Snap Counts (2012–present)

Postseason Career

13 playoff games

Defense

Tkl55Solo34Ast21TFL1Dis1.0Int1PD5

College Stats

FloridaCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Florida), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

Top Teammates

Cameron JordanLB3y Demario DavisOLB3y David OnyemataDT3y Terron ArmsteadOT3y

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

C.J. inherited the Philadelphia Eagles DB room from Rodney McLeod Jr. (2016–2021), and holds it as the most recent the corpus records.

Herman Edwards 1977–1985Brenard Wilson 1979–1986Andre Waters 1984–1993Terry Hoage 1986–1990Eric Allen 1988–1994Bobby Taylor 1995–2003

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

2026team change
Joined BUF (from CHI)
2026final season
Last recorded season with BUF
2025team change
Joined CHI (from PHI)
2024team change
Joined PHI (from DET)
2023team change
Joined DET (from PHI)
2022team change
Joined PHI (from NO)
2019draft
Drafted by NO — Round 4, Pick 105

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

5'11" / 208 lb

Frame

210 lb at 4.48s

Size-speed

36" vert / 117" broad

Explosion

17 reps

Bench power

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 6-season peers. See all →

peak 86

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C+2019

C+2020

B+2021

A+2022

A+2024

B2025

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 8 seasons.

69%

Era Translator

INT translated to the 2025 NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual INT	INT/G	→ 2025 INT	→ 2025 /G
2019	1	0.1	1	0.1
2020	1	0.1	1	0.1
2021	3	0.3	3	0.2
2022	6	0.5	7+1	0.4
2024	6	0.4	6	0.4
2025	2	0.2	3+1	0.2

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats_def, nflverse:snap_counts, nflverse:combine, nflverse:draft_picks · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 10/15/2026

Proprietary StatVault Metrics

KV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — Era-normalized career rating 0–100 within position group, calibrated so a 50 = average starter and 90+ = all-time great. Covers 1999–present. Built on a 5-year IQR/robust-std era window.

SIS (Snap Impact Score) — Per-snap production z-scored within position group and era (2012+). Measures how much a player produced per opportunity, not raw volume.

VORP (Value Over Replacement) — Sum of max(0, season KV-H − positional replacement level) across a career. Measures career value above the minimum-roster baseline at each position.

Durability IQ — 0–100 score reflecting how many games a player played relative to peers at the same position in the same era. Adjusts for injury-shortened seasons.