Eagles trade for Saints safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson on cut-down day and release Anthony Harris

The Eagles released one starting safety and traded for another.

They began cut-down day Tuesday with a splashy move, trading for New Orleans Saints defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. The trade came moments after reports surfaced that the Eagles would release Anthony Harris.

The Eagles will also receive the Saints’ seventh-round pick in 2025 in exchange for the Eagles’ fifth-round pick in 2023 and the later of their two sixth-round picks in 2024.

Gardner-Johnson, 24, started 12 games for the Saints last season primarily as a slot cornerback. According to Pro Football Focus, the 2019 fourth-round pick out of Florida played 68% of his snaps out of the slot last season.

The Eagles listed Gardner-Johnson as a safety when announcing the trade, suggesting he will be a full-time safety for the Eagles. Gardner-Johnson played safety in college and high school.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni demurred when asked how Gardner-Johnson would fit in the defense, but general manager Howie Roseman referred to him when addressing the significant overhaul at the safety position before Tuesday’s deadline.

“It doesn’t benefit us to talk about what we’re playing and where we’re playing him,” Sirianni said. “We’re in game-plan week right now. The fact that he didn’t play any snaps with us, that’s an unknown for Detroit, so we’ll keep it that way.”

Even though Gardner-Johnson hasn’t spent much time as a post safety during his pro career, Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon has said in the past that his scheme makes slot cornerbacks and safeties more interchangeable than usual.

“The nickel position is a mirrored position with the safety in some things,” Gannon said earlier this month.

The Eagles typically employ two-high safeties in an effort to contain explosive plays, but gravitated toward some single-high looks toward the back half of the season. When Marcus Epps serves as the lone deep safety, Gardner-Johnson would often end up in the slot or elsewhere in the box .

As a post safety, certain coverage calls will sometimes ask him to occupy parts of the field consistent with his former position, but there will be some transition necessary.

“I mean, it’s not easy,” Sirianni said of the switch from slot to safety. “But our coaches work really hard to cross-train those guys. ... There’s some different things that we are able to do where they are interchangeable, obviously.”

Gardner-Johnson, a fourth-round 2019 pick out of Florida, is entering the final year of his rookie contract and was eligible for an extension going into this season. The 5-foot-11, 210-pounder had 46 tackles and seven pass breakups last season.

Gardner-Johnson sought an extension from New Orleans, but the two sides reportedly reached an impasse. The Saints have a plethora of talent in their defensive secondary, and the market for slot-only cornerbacks can be unkind.

Roseman downplayed any concerns that Gardner-Johnson wouldn’t play out the season without a contract extension.

“We wouldn’t have made the trade if we weren’t comfortable with the person,” he said. “We never want to rule anything out with any of our players on our team, but if I start getting into anyone’s contract situation, I’ve got to address all the other guys’.”

Roseman said the Eagles met with Gardner-Johnson during the predraft process in 2019. The defensive back has developed a reputation for playing with an edge during his career. He notably caught the ire of Chicago Bears receiver Javon Wims in 2020. Wims sucker-punched him and told team officials that Gardner-Johnson spat on him and ripped off his mouthpiece, according to NFL Network. Gardner-Johnson denied the claim, telling reporters, “nobody got spit on.”

Gardner-Johnson was also on the receiving end of a punch from his former teammate, Saints receiver Michael Thomas. Thomas was suspended one game for the incident in 2020 and it’s important to note that those in attendance said he was in the wrong, according to Sports Illustrated.

“He’s got a passion for the game and he’s not afraid to show it,” Roseman said. “I think what Coach does with our team — he lets them show their personalities and lets them be them. I don’t think anything we found on him was malicious.”

The Eagles’ decision to release Harris, 30, came as a bit of a surprise. The veteran safety had eventually re-signed with the Eagles after testing the free-agency market and spent virtually all of training camp working with the first-team defense. The Eagles could bring back Harris for Week 1 if he’s still available. Doing so would make his contract non-guaranteed for the season.

“When you talk about Anthony, you talk about one of the tough conversations,” Roseman said. “... We felt like, since there was a possibility that his role changed from when we had signed him that, because we were looking at options, he also deserved to kind of look at options. You don’t want to close any doors on anything right now.”

Safety was arguably the Eagles’ thinnest position group coming out of training camp. The team is counting on Epps to make a leap in his first full season as a starter and had little depth behind Harris. Jaquiski Tartt signed with the Eagles just before training camp but struggled to make an impact and wasn’t at practice Monday following reports of his release.

With Gardner-Johnson and Epps, the Eagles made an apparent upgrade at the starting spots.