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David Johnson led the league in yards from scrimmage in 2016, his second year in the NFL. He placed third in AP Offensive Player of the Year voting. Today, he is more known for being that bum the Cardinals traded for DeAndre Hopkins than he is for anything he did on the field.
It's sad really. The Texans shipped first-round pick and four-time All-Pro DeAndre Hopkins off to Arizona in 2020 for third-round pick David Johnson and some exchange of draft picks. Johnson had not replicated his 2016 success in any of the three seasons preceding the trade. The deal was viewed as a bad trade at the time and only looked worse the more time passed.
Johnson felt a lot of pressure that he was ultimately unable to live up to. What happened after the trade? Is Johnson still on an NFL roster?
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David Johnson After He Was Traded to the Texans
In his first season as a Texan, Johnson gained 691 yards on 147 carries and scored six rushing touchdowns. He suffered a concussion in Week 9 and missed the next three games. It wasn't a terrible season considering the Texans were a 4-13 team with one of the worst offensive lines in the league.
It wasn't a terrible season unless you compare it to DeAndre Hopkins' 2020. Hopkins caught 115 passes for 1,407 yards and six touchdowns.
It's not David Johnson's fault Bill O'Brien was such an atrocious general manager and coach. O'Brien was known for making bad trades and bad decisions on the sidelines before he was fired from both his positions in 2020. O'Brien's poor decision led to unrealistic expectations for Johnson.
“Everything I did was going to be magnified because of the trade," Johnson said in an article for The Athletic.
"Honestly, I felt like if I was traded for anyone else, it wouldn’t be as bad. I think just the magnitude of the trade is what made it so stressful.”
Johnson took a $2 million pay cut in 2021 to remain with the Texans for the final year of his contract. He only rushed 67 times for 228 yards.
Who Will Sign David Johnson?
Johnson, now age 31, did not have any suiters in the 2022 offseason. He began the season unemployed. Eventually, the Saints signed him to their practice squad in mid-November after Latavius Murray was scooped off the Saints practice squad by the Broncos.
He was active in five games, but he only carried the ball 12 times for 24 yards and added four catches for 47 yards.
Johnson's production has fallen off from a variety of metrics. Whether you look at yards per attempt or yards after contact per attempt, 2022 was his worst season yet, and 2021 wasn't much better. PFF graded his total offense at 51.3 and his rushing offense at 42.0. Those are failing grades.
At this point, few NFL teams are interested in the former All-Pro. His best shot of getting on a roster is if injuries stack up for some team during the season.
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