Former Eagle CJ Gardner-Johnson Changes Name To 'Ceedy Duce'

DETROIT, MI — Former Philadelphia Eagle and current Detroit Lions free safety CJ Gardner-Johnson is changing his name.

He will now be known, legally, as "Ceedy Duce," he said on social media this weekend.

The football player did not get into exactly why he was making the change or what inspired the change, though he did expand on his thought process about using his nickname more often back in an interview with the Detroit Free Press in September.

"It's a different person," told the outlet. "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."

His original last name was one of the longest to fit on the back of an NFL uniform.

Gardner-Johnson was part of the Birds Super Bowl team last season after a surprise trade late in August. He had a career year, notching six interceptions and 61 solo tackles and serving as a key cog in a potent Birds defensive front.

The Eagles did not resign Duce in the offseason and he landed a contract with Detroit instead.