Actions speak louder than words and while everything everyone is saying about Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson is positive and optimistic, actions show the team and head coach Kliff Kingsbury is not pleased with him.
Against the San Francisco 49ers, Johnson did not start and did not get a rushing attempt or a target in the passing game. He played only nine snaps the entire game and did not appear to play in the second half.
This came after he was benched in Week 10 after his fumble against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Leading up to the game, Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim both said Johnson had a great week of practice. Kingsbury even said it was the best week of practice he had all season. He said the playing time at running back would be done by committee and that both Johnson and Kenyan Drake would have packages.
Drake was productive, getting 67 yards on 16 carries. He also had six catches for 13 yards.
What did Kingsbury have to say after the game about the playing time?
“We wanted to get K.D. in a rhythm,” he told reporters after the game. “I thought he played really well the first game when he was here when he was in a rhythm getting the majority fo the snaps so we rolled with him in the second half.”
According to Kingsbury, it isn’t even about Johnson.
“It’s not as much what he’s not showed us,” he said. “KD, like I said, played really well against them the first game if you remember, so we wanted to get him going again in this game versus them.”
Drake did have 162 total yards against the 49ers in Week 9. Johnson was injured.
Johnson did not speak to reporters after the game. He apparently cleared out his locker before reporters got there.
And at 12:31 a.m. Monday morning, Johnson had a one-word tweet.
Welp…
— David Johnson (@DavidJohnson31) November 18, 2019
We don’t know the context of it, but things aren’t going well for Johnson, long considered the team’s best offensive player.
He supposedly had his best week of practice and was rewarded with nine snaps and no touches when he was completely healthy.
This doesn’t feel like a story that is going to end well.
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