Bills' defensive depth was already thin. Gardner-Johnson's injury just made it thinner.

The good news arrived quickly: further tests after C.J. Gardner-Johnson was carted off Saturday revealed no serious damage, and he's now listed as active. The bad news is that the Bills still spent Monday having Sam Franklin Jr. take starting reps in his place, which tells you something about how little margin exists back there. Franklin is the third safety on the depth chart, accounting for a small fraction of the secondary's production last season. He's a contingency, not a solution.

The secondary situation connects to a broader defensive picture that hasn't improved much since camp opened. The defensive line carries only one player at each of defensive end and defensive tackle with meaningful playing time from last season. Dorian Strong remains out. The linebacker group is one body short of a typical rotation. It's a lot of thin spots stacked on top of each other, and a Gardner-Johnson absence — even a short one — removes one of the few proven contributors from a unit that can't afford to lose any.

The Vita Vea trade speculation floating around Monday is worth noting in this context. The Bills have real interior line needs, and adding a proven run-stuffer would address something the current roster genuinely lacks. Whether Tampa actually moves him is another matter. For now, the Bills are managing what they have, and what they have in the secondary is Gardner-Johnson's health and Franklin's readiness — two things they'd rather not be counting on simultaneously.