RADIO
Bruce Arians can prop up this “smaller role” for David Johnson thing until he’s blue in the face, but Arians can’t ignore how electric the rookie is. Chris Johnson had 20 carries to David Johnson’s five carries. DJ still turned those five carries into 42 yards and a score, and you probably saw that he opened the game with a kickoff return for a touchdown. This guy is good.
The only issue here is that Arians needs to be willing to give him the ball more, and of course that Andre Ellingtonwill come back in a few weeks. That said, Ellington is the poster-child for getting injured, so he’s never safe to stay on the field, even when he returns. The Arizona Cardinals have a serious chance at the Super Bowl this year, and Arians needs to involve David Johnson and reward his play. You should too--you can find a roster spot for this guy if he’s still sitting on the waiver wire, as his ceiling is going to be as high as Arians will let it be. It’s possible that David Johnson falls into the same sort of category that Matt Jones (RB, WAS) is in, which is that of a great young talent that is boom-or-bust depending on if they can rip off a huge play out from a small amount of touches.
Both of those guys need to be rostered though, as they clearly have the talent. They’re just waiting on real opportunity, and when talent meets opportunity, you get championships. Bruce Arians is now saying that David Johnson’s workload will increase a little bit week-by-week, which is promising, and does jump him pretty squarely over Matt Jones.
