What a new contract for C.J. Gardner-Johnson could look like for the Lions

The Detroit Lions are going to need to pay a lot of attention to their secondary for the second offseason in a row. They're going to really need to bulk up at cornerback more than anything else, but they'll also have to make sure they do some retention as well. Particularly with safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson. 

Gardner-Johnson is a bit of an enigma to some Lions fans and some are not of a fan of his brashness, but the fact is that he became a locker room leader this season and that bravado that he brings rubbed off on the Lions defense in only good ways. It gave them a swagger they needed. 

That's not all he contributed. When he was healthy and playing, he was very good out there. Gardner-Johnson played some of the best football of his career in the six games the Lions got out of him. He also continued his ball hawking ways with two picks in those six games. It wasn't the league leading number he had in 2022, but two in six games is nothing to balk at. 

There's some concern that maybe that bravado could lead to some bad moments and that he's out there playing for himself. You could think that after the unnecessary personal foul on Deebo Samuel in the NFC Championship game. I don't see it that way. It's hard to say a guy is playing for himself when you watched him play nearly an entire game with a torn pectoral so he could try to help his team win. 

Ok, now that the table is set, what would keeping Gardner-Johnson cost? Our on staff cap experts here at A to Z Sports crunched all the numbers and their projection is that Gardner-Johnson is in line for a two year, $17 million deal that would give him $8.5 million average per year earnings and $8.5 million guaranteed. 

That's a solid deal for Gardner-Johnson. It get's him a raise to stay in Detroit after he signed a one year deal for $6.5 million in 2022 and with the short term nature of the deal, it gives Gardner-Johnson a chance to play at a high level and then have a chance to either get an extension that can lead to big money or sign a big deal at 28-years-old. Everybody wins with this one. 

We'll see in due time what the real numbers might look like for Gardner-Johnson, but this should be very close.