Chris Johnson Should be Arizona Cardinals Feature Back

By Shaun Church | Oct 7, 2015

On August 16, the Arizona Cardinals were in the middle of training camp without running backs Andre Ellington and rookie David Johnson, both of whom had been nursing hamstring injuries. Former 2,000-yard rusher and All-Pro Chris Johnson was not on an NFL roster, and his future looked bleak after being shot this offseason.

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Fast forward seven weeks (Johnson signed with the Cardinals on August 17), and Johnson is fifth in the league in rushing with 302 yards through four games and is on pace for over 1,200 yards this season. He took over as the starter when Ellington yet again went down with an injury; a sprained PCL suffered during Arizona’s season-opening win over the New Orleans Saints did Ellington in this time.

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Johnson notched his 37^th career 100-yard game the next week, carrying 22 times for 110 yards and a pair of touchdowns just days after turning 30—the dreaded age for NFL running backs—which seemed like a raised middle finger to those who said he was finished.

His defiance of the naysayers has continued over the next two weeks. Johnson is tied for fourth in carries with 68, fifth in yards with 302 and, for now, touts his highest yards-per-carry average since the 2012 season with 4.4 yards per tote.

The speed some thought was long gone is still very noticeably available when he needs it. The vision, which is highlighted in GIF form below, is as good as it needs to be.

But perhaps most importantly, Johnson is running with a chip on his shoulder. Couple that with the fact he’s on maybe the best team he’s ever been on, and you see why the three-time Pro Bowl back should garner the majority of the snaps and carries in Arizona.

As noted, Johnson has carried 68 times through four games this season. Of those, 12 have gone for either zero or negative yardage, 25 have gone for at least five yards and eight have covered 10-plus yards. Among backs with at least 50 carries this season, those numbers rank well in terms of percentage of total carries.

"“I don’t really feel like my career went down the drain,” Johnson told Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com. “I know I still can play this game at a high level. It was just depending on what team gave me an opportunity.”"

While Johnson’s career didn’t go down the drain, he was stuck in a ditch over the past two seasons. In his final year with the Tennessee Titans, he topped 1,000 yards for the sixth straight campaign, but he averaged a career-low 3.9 yards per carry. His long run of the year was just 30 yards, a feat he matched in a Week 3 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Then last year while with the New York Jets, he was on pace to top 1,000 yards again. But he started just six of 16 games and was not given the necessary workload to do so, totaling a career-low 155 carries for 655 yards, a 4.3 YPC average.

I don’t know why other teams didn’t look at him. I’m just glad that we did.

—Bruce Arians

For now, Johnson is on pace to have a season similar to his 2012 campaign, when he carried 276 times for 1,243 yards (4.5 YPC) and six touchdowns.

It’s up to head coach Bruce Arians to get him there, because the back has everything going for him at the moment—health, ability and motivation.

Should he be the featured back the remainder of the year, there is little doubt the 30-year-old will top 1,000 yards on the ground. The Cardinals need a solid rushing attack to complement quarterback Carson Palmer and the passing offense.

Johnson can provide that rushing attack with Ellington and David Johnson available off the bench to provide a change of pace.

Next: Where do Cardinals rank in our power rankings?

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