The Houston Texans shored up their run game with the acquisition of running back David Johnson from the Arizona Cardinals.
As part of the club’s offensive philosophy to surround quarterback Deshaun Watson with a plethora of weapons and allow him to make the best decision on where the football needs to go, adding Johnson gives Houston another productive player in their offense.
For fantasy football players, what they want to know is how effective Johnson can be in an offense where he is one of many weapons, not the bell cow as he was in 2016. Will Johnson even get the chance to cross the 1,000-yard rushing mark, a feat he has not replicated since 2016?
According to TheHuddle.com, Johnson is projected to have 950 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns, which isn’t so bad. However, the former All-Pro is projected to have just 19 catches for 160 yards and a touchdown. Johnson would produce 159 fantasy points for the whole season, the 27th-most in the NFL.
What could be Johnson’s saving grace, and perhaps that of his fantasy owners, is playing behind the Texans’ offensive line, which is returning the same five starters for the first time since 2011. It is worth mentioning because that same offensive line paved the way for Carlos Hyde to earn his first career 1,000-yard rushing season and earn another contract with the Seattle Seahawks. If a former 2014 second-round pick such as Hyde could find that type of revitalization in Houston, what could Johnson find?
Offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, who takes over for coach Bill O’Brien as the play-caller, seeks to put opposing defenses into conflict, and Johnson’s skills as a pass-catcher and purely as a runner initiate those conflicts. However, Johnson’s ability to dominate fantasy football may be the one aspect of his career that isn’t revitalized in Houston.
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