Joe Brady has addressed the comments he made in a video clip taken from a live stream by C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
In his first year as an NFL head coach, taking over the responsibilities vacated by Sean McDermott after his firing at the beginning of the offseason, Brady already appears to have his work cut out for him.
With the Buffalo Bills reporting to training camp, the 28-year-old safety was in the middle of a livestream to his fans when Brady could be heard giving him a friendly reminder about streaming around team facilities.
“I would say just be mindful, probably not locker room, training room, you know what I mean?” Brady could be heard saying to Gardner-Johnson during his live stream on Tuesday.
Gardner-Johnson then replies, “no worries,” before following that up with, “alright, now I’m going chat. Coach said it’s done. We gone for the day.”
The short clip quickly circulated around social media, and Brady was forced to address it during his press conference on Wednesday.
“Just be myself. I’m not trying to be anybody, that’s all I know,” Brady said, speaking about how he stamps his authority on his players as their head coach.
“This is year one for everybody. Like I told the team, we’ve never been here before.
“There is no, ‘you know what training camp is like.’ That’s when you fall back into the assumption of you start thinking like you always thought.
“But I can’t be anybody that I’m not. I’m going to act a certain way,” he continued.
“There’s standards and there’s a personality I want us to be about and that’s what we handle in team meetings. If I see things that’s not the standard or living up to it or gets in the way of it, then I’ll address it.
“But something like that [Gardner-Johnson’s live stream] is not an issue. That’s not a concern.”
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Gardner-Johnson has quite the reputation
Gardner-Johnson is one of the NFL’s most unapologetically polarizing figures, and has been since his arrival into the league as a fourth-round pick in 2019.
This perhaps is why the safety has been a journeyman throughout his career, having suited up for seven teams in as many seasons.
Having spent the 2025 campaign with the Chicago Bears, the Bills signed the 28-year-old to a one-year deal worth $6 million deal.
When he’s not too busy getting under his opponents’ skins – or entire fanbases – which has led to heated altercations and even game ejections, there is still a very valuable player there.
In 101 career outings, Gardner-Johnson has recorded 21 interceptions for a total of 318 yards returned and one touchdown.
He has also forced three fumbles, and has one fumble recovery for 37 yards.
Furthermore, he has racked up 425 combined tackles (314 solo), 28 tackles for loss, and 20 QB hits.
Whether Brady can keep him reined in for the entirety of the 2026 season, though, remains to be seen.