Chauncey Gardner-Johnson will miss time due to lacerated kidney

Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is, despite what we previously thought, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson‘s ribs aren’t broken. The bad news is he’ll still miss time and the diagnosis might be worse than we expected. The first-year Philadelphia Eagles star/four-year veteran left the playing surface in Week 12 in a manner that no one wants to see, with the assistance of a medical cart. Well wishes have been sent his way ever since, but early on Tuesday morning, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero’s report, unfortunately, brought bad news

C.J.G.J. is out “indefinitely” after suffering a lacerated kidney. Thankfully, surgery isn’t required. Testing appears to be ongoing, but even with the disappointing news, there is a silver lining in the dark cloud. The injury isn’t season-ending. That means he should be back on the field at some point.

The Eagles continue to win, but Chauncey Gardner-Johnson will be missed.

The Philadelphia Eagles continue to stack up wins. Unfortunately, some of them have come at a cost. They’ve seen injuries at important positions. Jordan Davis, Dallas Goedert, and Avonte Maddox come to mind, but as sick as we are of stating overused phrases, Philly will need to employ the ‘next-man-up’ mentality again.

Marcus Epps, Reed Blankenship, Andre Chachere, and K’Von Wallace will need to play lights out in C.J.’s absence. They have some pretty big shoes to fill. Gardner-Johnson begins his rehab as the NFL’s leader in interceptions. Hopefully, he’ll be back on the field sooner rather than later. The Eagles will need to be at full strength and at the top of their game if they hope to make a deep playoff run.

They’re talented enough to survive during the short term without him, but who are we kidding? The Eagles defense is a much better unit when he is on the field. So far, in 2022, he’s tallied 60 total tackles, eight pass breakups, a sack, and six interceptions.

Again, the good news is he’ll return at some point this season. Fingers are crossed, first, for a speedy recovery and, second, that he’ll be back on the field sooner rather than later.