David Johnson’s days with Arizona Cardinals numbered
By Scott Allen
After Sunday’s loss and only playing 7 snaps, Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson may have seen his best days behind him
It didn’t even occur to some, including yours truly, that Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson had pulled a nice disappearing job until the second half of their 36-26 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. He failed to register a single touch.
Last week the fourth-year back was benched in the second-half of their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after recording the team’s first fumble of the season. He was coming off missing three games with an injury.
He apparently had a good week of practice, a week he did not appear on the injury report at all. Earlier in the week Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury said it would be a running back by committee situation going forward.
On Sunday, it was a committee of one, at least as far as running backs go. Quarterback Kyler Murray had 8 carries for 67-yards in the loss to the 49ers.
Kingsbury after the game said it since Kenyan Drake played well against the 49ers in their first meeting back on October 31st, he was the one with the touches on Sunday. However when a back like Johnson isn’t getting even one touch when supposedly healthy, then that’s a very telling sign.
What it says is the Cardinals are ready to move on from Johnson. Johnson isn’t a good fit for Kingsbury’s offense, despite his versatility.
Drake had 16 carries and 6 receptions on Sunday, a total of 22 touches. He has clearly become the number one back. Chase Edmonds is expected back in a couple of weeks after their week 12 bye next week.
That leaves Johnson as the odd man out. Unless something changes, Johnson may not see many more touches as a Cardinals back.
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It is hard to fathom Johnson falling so far out of favor he doesn’t even get a single touch, but it appears that’s the case. He has another year left on his contract, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Cardinals try and trade him in the offseason, despite the cap hit they would take.