{"id":196626,"date":"2025-07-10T17:05:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T17:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/196626\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T17:05:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T17:05:23","slug":"texans-c-j-gardner-johnson-calen-bullock-land-inside-top-15-safeties-by-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/196626\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans’ C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Calen Bullock land inside top 15 safeties by voters"},"content":{"rendered":"

When C.J. Gardner-Johnson<\/a> is on, some would consider him to be the most underappreciated safety in the NFL. It’s a big reason why the Houston Texans’<\/a> defense is expected to rank top 10 in nearly every major category.<\/p>\n

After a breakout rookie campaign in which he led all first-year players in interceptions with five, Calen Bullock<\/a> has become an invaluable piece of the\u00a0Texans<\/a>‘ secondary. He went from rotating in with Eric Murray and Jimmie Ward to\u00a0playing every snap\u00a0en route to a second AFC South division title under DeMeco Ryans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Combined, the duo has all the potential to lead the league in pass breakups and interceptions. Gardner-Johnson, who was traded to Houston this offseason in exchange for offensive lineman Kenyon Green<\/a> and a Day 3 pick<\/a>, is coming off another productive season in coverage, where he notched six turnovers and scored a touchdown while helping the Eagles<\/a> claim their second Super Bowl in eight seasons. There\u2019s not much debate about both player helping the Texans become a top five defensive back room in the league entering training camp this fall.<\/p>\n

Neither player is elite, so it makes sense that NFL coaches, executives and scouts kept them outside the top 10 when asked by ESPN to rank the\u00a0top safeties in the league<\/a> for the impending season. But one they has for the first six off the list, Gardner-Johnson\u00a0was the third-name mentioned, largely due to his instincts and on-field demeanor.<\/p>\n

“Takes chances, very instinctive. Not the biggest dude or the fastest but has a knack for the ball. …The personality can rub guys the wrong way,” an NFC scout told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “He has no filter. Will say what’s on his mind at all times. But he loves the game and is very smart.”<\/p>\n

Gardner-Johnson has been known for his brash personality and willingness to tussle on the field. It’s what makes him a unique player and one of the more vibrant characters on defense.<\/p>\n

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“I\u2019m one of the most winning safeties in football right now,” Garnder-Johnson said in April. “So, I think what I bring here is just culture that we should all, technically, have in us already. I always played winning football before and this team is full of guys that have been to great colleges from Bama to LSU, Florida State. So, we\u2019ve just got to just continue to do what we\u2019ve been doing since we were kids. At the end of the day, it\u2019s not hard. Go out there and trust each other and trust what Coach DeMeco [Ryans] is telling us and go win some football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bullock, who finished with 74 tackles and 11 pass breakups, was the last name mentioned in the “just missed” category, with one AFC executive saying he’s a ‘star in the making.’ A defensive coordinator, however, did mention there’s room for improvement if he plans on becoming one of the better defensive backs in Year 2.<\/p>\n

“Major ball skills, needs to improve his tackling,” the coordinator said.<\/p>\n

This time next year, Gardner-Johnson could be a lock for the top 10, while Bullock’s status is all based on his improvements as a tackler. The Texans return to training camp for the 2025 season later this month.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Texans’ safety duo rank inside the top 15 by NFL coaches & executives<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When C.J. Gardner-Johnson is on, some would consider him to be the most underappreciated safety in the NFL.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[1172,7578,3607,5415,7,9518,221,253,2368,6052,8295,6,222,33543],"class_list":{"0":"post-196626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-c-j-gardner-johnson","9":"tag-calen-bullock","10":"tag-demeco-ryans","11":"tag-eric-murray","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-gardner-johnson","14":"tag-houston","15":"tag-houston-texans","16":"tag-houstontexans","17":"tag-jimmie-ward","18":"tag-kenyon-green","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-texans","21":"tag-top-10"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114830031678414896","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}