The Houston Texans are missing a massive opportunity available with the presence of David Johnson in their running back room. An opportunity exists to better evaluate the talent of the roster and prepare for a 2021 season that will have far greater stakes than anything left in the Texans’ three remaining 2020 contests.
The solution? It’s simple really — Houston, sit David Johnson.
No, this isn’t an episode of “Nathan For You” or any kind of joke. Every week that Johnson sees meaningful snaps for the Texans, the franchise is doing itself a disservice.
People often have a very hard time admitting they made mistakes, especially in the workplace. Noting an error opens yourself up to scrutiny and potentially even loss of employment. However, for people to be truly great, sometimes cutting your losses is required.
Johnson was certainly the headline piece of the maligned DeAndre Hopkins trade. Texans fans, myself included, will write about how the 42nd overall selection was the key acquisition. However, Johnson was the headliner and a player they certainly expected to be successful in the sudden vacuum created by Hopkins’ departure. Johnson, since then, has done nothing that most analysts believe Duke Johnson could not have done in increased snaps.
Johnson is almost a virtual lock to not be a member of the 2021 Houston Texans team. Houston can save nearly $12 million by virtue of cutting No. 31 and barring a dramatic, unprecedented restructure, this is fate accompli. Nobody in the building or the front office needs to pretend otherwise. Especially not when similar talent in the backfield can be acquired at a quarter of the price.
This raises the question of what to do with Johnson’s three remaining games in 2021 and the Texans’ simple opportunity. It is time for Houston to invest in their youth and what they have in their roster. Johnson will not be a Texan, Duke Johnson is a known commodity. The time has come to fully lean into Buddy Howell and Scottie Phillips.
On Sunday, David Johnson had eight carries for 27 yards and 11 catches for 106 yards. The rushing attempts showed no burst or anything the Texans were excited about. The catches were largely a product of Watson’s incredible playmaking. As such, these 20 touches, and all the backfield touches left in 2020, serve no benefit to the team in the hands of Johnson.
Howell and Phillips are unknown commodities. It is very possible they look like players that deserved to be undrafted in their sequences. However, with the season in shambles, there is nothing left to lose for Houston. The team is better served exploring Howell’s strength or Phillips’ explosiveness (a quality no player in the Houston backfield currently possesses) than continuing to feed the ball to their living embodiment of poor management.
Investing in these young running backs, at the small price of meaningless snaps in meaningless games, allows the team to better evaluate where they stand in the running back room entering 2021. Head Coach Romeo Crennel frequently says the best way for players to improve is through snaps on the field. This is a good time for him to live that mantra.
It is not Johnson’s fault he was the centerpiece of such a lopsided trade and nobody will fault him for a contract he signed in 2017. However, in what’s become a 4-10 season, Houston would be amiss not to take advantage of their extraordinary opportunity. The opportunity to move the offense away from their headline running back.
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