David Johnson has not played a prominent part in the Houston Texans’ passing offense with just 16 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown.
One of the reasons Johnson hasn’t been a big contributor, according to quarterback Deshaun Watson, is that the former 2016 All-Pro is one of many targets that he has to choose from when he drops back.
“I mean, we have four guys and two running backs,” Watson said. “Of course we want to get him active but you have Will Fuller, you’ve got Cookie (Brandin Cooks), you’ve got (Randall) Cobb, you’ve got (Kenny) Stills who was here — all those guys were here at the same time. We’ve got a lot of weapons.”
Watson was also having success downfield with Fuller, who led the team with 53 catches for 879 yards and eight touchdowns. Cooks was also a viable downfield and intermediary target with 57 catches for 784 yards and three touchdowns.
Part of Houston’s philosophy is to take what the defense gives them. If the defense is giving the Texans Johnson, then Watson won’t hesitate to throw him the ball.
“You don’t want to just isolate him to do one thing, you try to move him around and move the ball around, for sure,” said Watson.
Houston takes on the Chicago Bears Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT at Soldier Field.
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