Another Eagle takes Defensive Player of Week after facing Cowboys

After his two-interception game against the Cowboys on Sunday, Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson has been named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 17.

This is the first Player of the Week honor in Gardner-Johnson’s six-year career.

In the Eagles’ 41-7 win over the Cowboys on Sunday, Gardner-Johnson had two interceptions and returned the first one 69 yards for the first touchdown of his career. In total, he had 94 interception-return yards in Week 17 to lead the NFL.

He’s the second Eagles player this season to win a Defensive Player of the Week award and both have come against the Cowboys. Zack Baun took the honor back in Week 10 after the first blowout win over the Cowboys.

A week after getting ejected in the third quarter, Gardner-Johnson showed how much he means to the Eagles on Sunday.

“What’s so impressive about Chauncey is when he gets his hands on the football, he finishes, and that’s a special talent that he has,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “Thinking about when he had the interception last week, where it was low on the ground, he had to double catch it to catch it, but he still finds a way to do it, and then he finds a way to do that. He did something like that in practice. I give a lot of credit to the coaches of them putting players in that position. We had that play that we looked at and did in practice, and Chauncey was right there the same way. It didn’t end up in an interception, but he ended up in a really good spot. We really talked about that. 

“So, credit to the coaches for putting him in that position, but the most credit goes to the players for making the plays in those scenarios. But that’s what’s so cool about this game, right? It’s a team game. I just thought it was big. Chauncey responded in a big way, making big time plays today.”

Gardner-Johnson, 27, now has six interceptions on the season. He also had six interceptions in 12 games in his first year with the Eagles back in 2022 before spending the 2023 season with the Lions. Since the start of the 2022 season, Gardner-Johnson has 13 interceptions, which ranks fourth in the NFL behind Kerby Joseph (17), Jessie Bates (14) and DaRon Bland (14).

Gardner-Johnson is the fifth Eagles safety all-time to win a Defensive Player of the Week, joining Brian Dawkins (three-time), Malcolm Jenkins (two), Kurt Coleman and Wes Hopkins.

Here’s a look at the Eagles’ trophy case this season:

Week 1 – Saquon Barkley – NFC Offensive Player of the Week
Week 7 – Saquon Barkley – NFC Offensive Player of the Week
Week 9 – Saquon Barkley – NFC Offensive Player of the Week
Week 10 – Zack Baun – NFC Defensive Player of the Week
Week 12 – Saquon Barkley – NFC Offensive Player of the Week
Week 13 – Braden Mann – NFC Special Teams Player of the Week
November – Saquon Barkley – NFC Offensive Player of the Month
Week 17 – C.J. Gardner-Johnson – NFC Defensive Player of the Week

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Simplecast | RSS | Watch on YouTube