Former Saints Defensive Back Will Change His Name

Former New Orleans defensive back announces he plans to change his name.

Former New Orleans Saints player Chauncey Gardner-Johnson is officially changing his name to Ceedy Duce.  The Lions defensive back posted the news on his social media accounts Friday.  While in New Orleans Gardner-Johnson has expressed a desire to change his name.

Ceedy Duce: "Time to pave a way for my own image" - Chauncey Gardner-Johnson

Gardner-Johnson wrote, “Officially changing my name to Ceedy Duce court documents otw 🙏🏾💯,” Gardner-Johnson wrote.

According to an interview with the Detroit Free Press, the change will reflect his on-field alter ego, Ceedy Duce.

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“It’s a different person,” Gardner-Johnson said. “I got an alter ego. I got like two different people living in me, football and life. Life, I’m just chilling. Football, that’s a whole different person. People call me Ceedy on the football field or Ducey. In life, they call me C.J. or Chauncey.”

In 2020, he posted on his Instagram story: "Ceedy Duce. No more Chauncey or CJ Gardner-Johnson. Time to pave a way for my own imagine that I want no more judgement thoughts on me because you really don't know me, until you understand me as a person I wont speak unless spoken to."

New Orleans selected Gardner-Johnson out of Florida as the 105th overall draft pick in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He was a popular and productive player with the Saints before being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2020 after a contract dispute. In exchange, New Orleans received a fifth-round pick and the lower of their two sixth-round picks in the 2024 NFL Draft and sent the Eagles a 2025 seventh-round pick.

Ceedy Duce, 25, is out for the season for Detroit due to a torn pectoral muscle.

Saints Trade Chauncey Gardner-Johnson