'Put It on Me': New Lions DB Commands Added Responsibility

C.J. Gardner-Johnson is ready to lead Detroit Lions' secondary.

New Detroit Lions defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn have reunited and are ready to get back to continuing their productive working relationship. 

Glenn developed so much of an affinity for the talented defensive back, he convinced New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton and the front office to pull the trigger on a draft trade. It marked the start of their professional working relationship. 

“Man, just the personality,” Glenn said, via The Athletic. “You watch him on tape, you see the fire, the passion, the love for the game, that intrigues me about anybody. The technical stuff, I can help you with. I can teach that. But, some of the stuff, that’s just self-ingrained. It’s just in you, that’s just who you are. I always say you want a dog to bite when he come out the womb. You don’t want to teach him to bite. He bit when he came out the womb.”

C.J. Gardner-Johnson, defensive back / © Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

After their paths went in different directions for a brief period of time -- as the former NFL defensive back followed Dan Campbell to Detroit -- it almost seemed inevitable the pair would work together again. 

Gardner-Johnson expressed he had a father-son relationship with Detroit's current defensive coordinator at his introductory media session with Detroit reporters. He has embraced how Glenn has mentored and instilled in him the appropriate attitude and how to prepare at a high level, beginning when he was a teenager attending football camps. 

Now that Detroit's secondary has been revamped, the 25-year-old wants to bear the responsibility for how the unit performs. 

“Everything that goes wrong on the backend, put it on me,” Gardner-Johnson said, when asked about what his role can be in Detroit's secondary. “Don’t put it on Cam, don’t put on Kerb (Kerby Joseph), put it on me. I’ll take all the bullets for us on the backend. Why we didn’t play good? I gotta help us prep better. Put it on me. That’s what type of role I want.”