Grades updated Rechecked every few hours on game days
The read
C.J. grades about average among safeties so far, with no number far from the middle.
Written from his numbers, not from film. 4 games are behind the season figures.
How he stacks up
Every graded stat at a glance, against all the safeties in the league.
Passes defended per target8820%7th of 50small sample
Passer rating allowed826210th of 50small sample
Completion rate allowed7850%12th of 50small sample
Yards allowed per target2410.438th of 50small sample
Missed tackles818%77th of 84small sample
Left is the worst at his job, right is the best, and the line down the middle is average. The bubble is his percentile: 90 means better than nine in ten qualifying safeties. Faded bars are still small samples.
How he has progressed
Where he has ranked among safeties after each week, and every game behind it.
Season rank slipped: 42nd to 29th percentile since Wk 3.
The line is his season-to-date rank among players at his position after each week, from 100 (the best) to 0 (the worst). It rises when he passes other players, not when he has one big game. Early weeks are noisier because fewer plays are behind them. The shaded weeks are the recent stretch.
Yards allowed per target game by game
Week
Opponent
That game
targets
Season rank after
1
vs HOU
18.5
2
–
3
vs LAC
5.6
5
42nd pct
4
vs NE
13.0
3
29th pct
Lower is better for this stat. One game is a small sample: a single stat over 3 targets can swing on a handful of plays. Shaded rows are the recent stretch.
The numbers, in context
Each one against every safety with at least 10 targets. Right on the strip is better.
Yards allowed per target
▼Well below typical
10.4lower is better
38th of 50 safeties · bottom 26%
12.5worse to better4.2
The yards the receiver he is covering gets each time he is targeted. Fewer is better.
The box score: Interceptions are rare and say little about the hundred plays where he is just covering.
Does it show up in winning? Across 35 games league-wide, a good or bad game on yards allowed per target from a safety has not lined up much with his team winning (64% wins in the best third, 64% in the worst).
Passer rating allowed
▲Well above typical
62lower is better
10th of 50 safeties · top 20%
113worse to better58
The passer rating of quarterbacks throwing at him. 158.3 is perfect for the passer, so lower is better for the defender.
The box score: Not in the box score.
Does it show up in winning? Across 35 games league-wide, teams won 73% of the time when their safety was in the best third on passer rating allowed, and 36% when he was in the worst third.
Completion rate allowed
▲Well above typical
50%lower is better
12th of 50 safeties · top 24%
74%worse to better40%
The share of passes thrown at him that are completed. Fewer is better.
The box score: Not in the box score.
Does it show up in winning? Across 35 games league-wide, teams won 82% of the time when their safety was in the best third on completion rate allowed, and 27% when he was in the worst third.
Passes defended per target
▲Well above typical
20%
7th of 50 safeties · top 15%
0%worse to better22%
How often a pass thrown at him ends with him breaking it up. A cornerback does this far more often than he intercepts.
The box score: Passes defended are counted, but never against how often he was tested.
Does it show up in winning? Across 35 games league-wide, teams won 82% of the time when their safety was in the best third on passes defended per target, and 46% when he was in the worst third.
Missed tackles
▼Among the weakest
18%lower is better
77th of 84 safeties · bottom 10%
17%worse to better0%
The share of his tackle chances he missed. Fewer is better.
The box score: Tackle totals reward the player who gets the most chances, not the one who finishes them.
Does it show up in winning? Across 144 games league-wide, a good or bad game on missed tackles from a safety has not lined up much with his team winning (50% wins in the best third, 44% in the worst).
How he plays
Tendencies: how his game differs from the safeties around him. These are not better or worse, only different, and often say as much about the offense or defense he plays in as about him.
Depth of passes at him
Style
14.6 yds
Is tested deep, more than most safeties. A typical one is 9.7 yds.
6.0 ydslow to high15.7 yds
How far downfield the passes thrown at him travel on average. It shows whether he is tested deep or underneath, which is a role, not a grade.
Playing time
He has played in 4 of his team's 4 games with snap counts, on the field for about 100% of the team's defensive plays when he plays.
100%
HOU
100%
DET
99%
LAC
100%
NE
Each column is a game: the share of his team's defensive snaps he played. 80% means about 8 of every 10 plays. “Out” means he did not play; a question mark means snap counts are not posted yet. Shaded games are the recent stretch.
Game by game
Every game this season: how it ended for his team, how much he played, his box score, and the advanced numbers from that one game. One game is a small sample, so read the right-hand columns as a snapshot, not his level.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson game by game
Game
Result
Snaps
Tkl
Solo
Ast
TFL
Sacks
Press
PBU
Int
Missed
Yds/target
Rating against
Comp % against
PBU/target
Wk 1vs HOU
W 36–31
100%
8
6
2
0
0
0
0
0
2
18.5
96
50%
0%
Wk 2vs DET
W 41–31
100%
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
–
–
–
–
Wk 3vs LAC
W 24–16
99%
5
3
2
0
0
0
2
1
1
5.6
19
40%
40%
Wk 4vs NE
L 26–29
100%
4
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
13.0
110
67%
0%
The box score
The traditional totals, with where each ranks among safeties. A total rewards volume, which is why the advanced numbers above matter.
Ranks are among players at the same job who have enough plays to be graded. Grades and rankings come from play-by-play, charting and snap-count data, so they cannot see blocking, route running or assignments. See how the grades work.
Data: nflverse play-by-play, CC BY 4.0. Also FTN charting, Pro Football Reference advanced stats, snap counts and injury reports, all through nflverse. Calculations and charts by Raiders Rundown.
