The topic of Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson has heated up the desert fanbase lately, with the bottom line of every conversation coming down to whether or not DJ is worth his $39mil contract.
Last Sunday, Johnson had zero touches against the 49ers. That, AFTER coach Kliff Kingsbury revealed that last week was David Johnson’s best practice week of the season. Wait. What? Something is clearly not adding up, so we Freaks asked Pro Football Talk’s Josh Alper for his outside the desert bubble viewpoint on what may truly be happening. Little did we know that we would set off another Johnson in the meantime.
As we all know, context is important. And in a conversation about David Johnson in Phoenix, the Chris Johnson comparison was spot on accurate. Titans fans are putting all of their energy into disagreeing with Alper’s truth on social media. That’s OK, as their tunnel vision of the RB is exclusive to Nashville, where he was indeed better. Carry on.
So what should be done with David Johnson moving forward? Production is way down from his one vibrant Birdgang season in 2016. And he arguably is no longer worth the money he is being paid. Should the Cardinals retain him because of how much of a cap hit his release would hurt the team? Should they force a contract renegotiation? Can they? Does he just not fit Kingsbury’s system like we had expected? Is his football IQ not up to par? Ah, the many questions the organization faces in the coming months. Listen to Alper’s take and then give us yours on twitter @KennyAndCrash