C.J. Gardner-Johnson Didn’t Believe the Eagles When They Said He Was Getting Traded for This Reason

C.J. Gardner-Johnson almost didn’t believe it when he found out the Philadelphia Eagles traded him to the Houston Texans.

After NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Eagles had sent the 27-year-old Super Bowl winner to Texas on Tuesday, March 11, Gardner-Johnson took to social media to address his new chapter.

In a livestream re-uploaded to X, Gardner-Johnson admitted, “I ain’t gonna lie, I thought it was April Fool’s,” and said he thought “they got me,” as a prank.

But once he realized the trade was no joke, Gardner-Johnson said there was “no bad blood” with the organization — an interesting choice of words for the NFL player who wore a controversial sweatshirt with a Taylor Swift reference after making vulgar comments about her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s love life.

“It wasn’t no love lost, it wasn’t no bad blood.. Them young guys just gotta get paid down there,” Gardner-Johnson explained during the livestream.

Gardner-Johnson said all he asked of the Eagles was that they trade him somewhere he “can go play winning football” and he didn’t ask for a “specific” team. “I didn’t ask for a specific place… I want to play winning football. I woke up the next day and and boom there it is, we in Houston.”

In fact, Gardner-Johnson said the phone call “was amazing” and that he understands the team had to trade him. “The situation is, them young guys just gotta get paid in Philly,” he continued, naming several former teammates who are still with the Eagles.

“Me getting older, I understand. There was no bad blood,” he said.

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After Gardner-Johnson’s trade was announced, fans of Swift reacted on social media. “The Eagles probably traded CJ Gardner-Johnson partly because of the Taylor Swift thing. Let’s not lie here,” one user wrote after the trade was announced.

Another said, “Taylor Swift somehow worked her magic to get CJ Gardner-Johnson traded out of Philly after that parade shirt.”

Gardner-Johnson — who once played alongside Jason Kelce on the Eagles — caused controversy at the team’s Super Bowl parade on Friday, Feb. 14 when he wore a sweatshirt that read: “Swifties can LIX my balls.”

That came just a few days after Gardner-Johnson posted a photo of himself matching up against Kelce, 35, on the field to his Instagram Stories on Feb. 10, one day after the Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.

Gardner-Johnson mocked Kelce in the post, insinuating he if he had stayed with his ex-girlfriend Kayla Nicole instead of dating Swift, he and the Chiefs would have won the game.