Bills Cut Chauncey Gardner-Johnson After Spitting Suspension
Sources: The #Bills are releasing safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.
The Buffalo Bills just looked at a starting safety and decided they would rather have an empty locker than deal with him for one more week. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson is officially out of a job.
Getting cut mid-season is tough. Getting cut immediately after serving a one-game suspension for spitting at an opponent is a special kind of career achievement. According to Jordan Schultz, the Bills released the veteran defensive back on Tuesday, ending an experiment that lasted exactly six starts.
The final straw was not a blown coverage or a missed tackle. It was a literal spitting incident directed at Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers during Buffalo's 33-30 win. The NFL handed down a one-game suspension without pay, and the Bills apparently decided that was all the excuse they needed to clean house.
If you are wondering how a Super Bowl contender can just casually dump a six-game starter, look at what happened on Sunday. While Gardner-Johnson was serving his timeout, the Buffalo defense absolutely suffocated the in a 36-10 blowout. When your defense easily covers the spread and holds a heavy-hitting offense to a single touchdown without you, your leverage drops to zero.
This is the reality of NFL roster math. If you are an All-Pro, teams will put up with a lot of extracurricular nonsense. If you are a replaceable piece in a secondary that just proved it does not need you to win by 26 points, spitting on a guy is a one-way ticket to the waiver wire.
Now Gardner-Johnson hits the open market with a fresh suspension on his resume and a reputation for unnecessary drama. Some safety-needy team will probably take a flier on him before the playoffs, but for now, the Bills are moving forward with a quieter, significantly less hydrated defensive backfield.