Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio has executed almost 100 roster transactions since taking over in early January.
The amount of moves the Texans have made to their roster has former 2016 All-Pro running back David Johnson feeling like he is on a new team altogether, not simply entering the second season with his second ever club.
“I feel like I’m on a new team, basically that’s the gist of it,” Johnson said. “I feel like I’m the one who got traded or got picked up on a new team, but I’m embracing it as much as I can.”
Johnson is in the midst of a running back battle with Mark Ingram, formerly with the Baltimore Ravens, where current Texans coach David Culley was on staff the last two seasons as a receivers coach. Phillip Lindsay, who made the Pro Bowl in two of his first three seasons with the Denver Broncos, joins the fray as a maverick to win the job.
“I feel like every year for me has been a crazy situation with so many different coaching changes, head coaches and position coaches,” said Johnson. “So I was just really blessed and glad that we got [running backs coach] Danny (Barrett) back.”
Johnson says that he was so focused on day one of training camp on his own job that he didn’t have time to peek around and see three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Deshaun Watson wearing a No. 23 jersey and playing on the scout team defense as a safety.
Said Johnson: “See, I didn’t even see that. No, I wasn’t even paying attention to that. I was mostly just trying to talk to our running back group, Mark and Phil (Lindsay) coming in here new, just trying to get them involved in to the offense.”
If Johnson can be a part of getting the running back group going and lead the offensive production, then the winning will make Johnson feel like on a new team given Houston went 4-12 last season.
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