C.J. Gardner-Johnson says he doesn't aim to start the chatter on Saints gamedays, but he does see it as his responsibility to "turn up" those alongside him.
That's how Gardner-Johnson described it when asked about his mental and psychological approach to the game of football.
“I’m a natural," Gardner-Johnson said. "I know what’s real and what’s not real. Let’s put it like that.”
That skill to fire up teammates is something he's always had in his game, he said, speaking after Monday's training camp practice. His voice is often the loudest after big defensive plays at practices, even when he wasn't on the field for the play itself.
By Year 3, Gardner-Johnson said he knows the process that's been around long before he got to town. That process is for one thing, and that thing is to win.
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“If I’m playing a thumb war, whatever it is, I’m trying to win," he said. "I don’t care what it is. I’m here to win."
Whatever it takes to get to that win is what Gardner-Johnson plans to do. And while the nickel corner/safety says he doesn't go into games looking to push other players' buttons, he's more than willing to make them pay for it once they invite the noise. Gardner-Johnson racked up multiple fines in his second season, and was twice the target of punches in games against the Bears. Both times a Chicago player was ejected, the second ejection occurring in a playoff game.
Gardner-Johnson has never been mic'd by the NFL to hear his conversations on the field, but he's often in the shot letting opponents hear him after big defensive plays.
"Put it like this: My main focus is to handle my job. That’s to cover the receivers. When the talking starts, I mean, it’s football. If you get in your shell after that and I just keep pecking at the shell, it ain’t my fault," he said. "I’m just, I’m here. I’m in from first quarter to fourth quarter, I don’t say overtime because they don’t make it to overtime.”
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That football kicks back up again this week when the Saints travel to Baltimore to open their preseason slate against the Ravens on Saturday. And he'll go into that game the same way he has each week of his career, disliking the team on the other sideline.
"When I go out there I don’t try to start nothing, I just don’t like the other side immediately," Gardner-Johnson said. "So when we play Baltimore, I don’t like them. It’s just a switch."