Detroit Lions defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson talks a good game.

And he plays a good game. He’s only been in town a few weeks after the Lions signed him as a free agent this off-season. But he is already on his way to making the Foster Fab Five All Talk Team here in Detroit.

He left this with this gem over the weekend after returning to practice following what looked like a horrific knee injury.

“I’m contagious. I’m like the flu,” Gardner-Johnson told reporters. “Like the flu. It’s going to go through your body. It’s either you get it or you don’t get it, and that’s not because I’m cocky. No. It’ like I’m confident in my job. I’m confident with my coaches and my teammates and my trainers and my strength staff are doing for me and teaching me, so I think that’s why.”

If Gardner-Johnson keeps this up he will make my All Talk Team. Until further notice here are the Fab Five for now.

DAN CAMPBELL, LIONS HEAD COACH

He had me at knee caps and he keeps on going. When Hard Knocks filmed in Detroit producers could have made it the Dan Campbell Show because he is so engaging, motivating and personable. This is a man who can make his Starbucks order interesting.

TORII HUNTER, TIGERS OUTFIELDER

You never knew what Hunter was going to say during his two-year stay with the Tigers from 2012 to 2014. He got into some heat when he spoke about the lack of black ball players in baseball. He said Latinos do not count as black ball players no matter their heritage.

“They’re not us. They are imposters,” Hunter told USA Today. “Even people I know come up and say: What color is Vladimir Guerrero? Is he a black player? I say ‘come on he’s Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper.

It’s like why should I get this kid from the South side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?

NATE BURLESON, LIONS WIDE RECEIVER

Interviewing Nate always seemed like talking to a talk show host which he later became on the NFL Network and on CBS Mornings. Burleson played for the Lions from 2010 to 2013 and enjoyed an 11- year career with the Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks and Cleveland Browns.

Burleson’s takes on games and the entire NFL were well thought out and precise.

JOHN SALLEY, DETROIT PISTONS CENTER

Sal-Sal was a comedian in the making. The Bad Boys Pistons dressing room was often business like and stuffy. But not when Salley was around. He kept things light-hearted and loved people and was proud that he was the only Pistons player living in the city at the time.

WAYNE FONTES, LIONS HEAD COACH

Fontes kept the jokes coming along with his shameless promotions of Lions owner William Clay Ford.
Wayne once compared himself to NFL legends Bill Parcells and Vince Lombardi, which caused muffled chuckles from the media mob.

After big wins Wayne would shout out: “Where my owner? Where my owner? I want to dedicate this game to my owner William Fode (Wayne was so excited he failed to call Ford’s last name correctly). He the best owner in football. He is the tip of the top.”

Fontes felt that way because despite public pressure to fire him, Ford stood by his bumbling coach.

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For more from the author Terry Foster, check him out on Twitter here: @terryfosterdet

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