What’s supposed to happen to David Johnson now? He signed a three-year extension worth $39 million last year. Now he might not even be one of the top 2 running backs on his own team.
Johnson didn’t touch the ball in San Francisco yesterday. The Cardinals started Kenyan Drake, and he might be a better fit with their offense – with more speed and elusiveness. Arizona also has Chase Edmonds, who had a 3-touchdown came earlier this year. With Edmonds being on his rookie contract, the Cardinals are probably more excited about keeping him around to be their backup (rather than Johnson).
The Cardinals traded for Drake in October. He’ll need to be re-signed in the offseason. If he leaves, that could put Johnson back in play to potentially start. And Johnson could get a fair chunk of work in the final six weeks of this season, sharing time in what could be a committee backfield. Kliff Kingsbury says the team isn’t giving up on Johnson.
But for 2020, Johnson has a cap number of $14.3 million. That’s a lot for a running back who isn’t certain to be a difference-making franchise type of guy.
Looks pretty likely that the Cardinals will be looking to unload Johnson in the offseason. If they could find a team with any interest in taking on his salary, I’m sure they’d be all over that. They may be looking at when they can simply release him without it causing too much cap damage.
Running back tends to be difficult position contractually. Players can wildly outperform their contracts early in their careers (like Christian McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook and Nick Chubb this year).
When running backs hit the middle of their careers and sign new deals, then you see some turn from being underpaid into being overpaid.
The OverTheCap website does a great job of tracking salaries. According to their numbers, there are six veteran running backs who’ll count over $8 million against the cap next year (that’s base salary, plus bonuses that have already been paid). For all but one of those deals, the team now regrets signing it. (Cowboys are fine with Ezekiel Elliott, but Todd Gurley, LeVeon Bell, Johnson, Devonta Freeman and Jerick McKinnon all look badly overpaid.)
On the chart below, I have put a black dot next to guys still on their rookie contracts.
| BACKS MAKING $2 MILLION | ||
|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | 2020 |
| Todd Gurley | Rams | $17,250,000 |
| Le'Veon Bell | Jets | $15,500,000 |
| David Johnson | Cardinals | $14,250,000 |
| Ezekiel Elliott | Cowboys | $10,900,000 |
| Devonta Freeman | Falcons | $9,500,000 |
| • Leonard Fournette | Jaguars | $8,638,917 |
| Jerick McKinnon | 49ers | $8,550,000 |
| • Saquon Barkley | Giants | $8,507,659 |
| • Christian McCaffrey | Panthers | $5,485,870 |
| Mark Ingram | Ravens | $5,333,333 |
| Dion Lewis | Titans | $5,162,500 |
| Tevin Coleman | 49ers | $4,900,000 |
| James White | Patriots | $4,625,000 |
| Giovani Bernard | Bengals | $4,166,667 |
| Duke Johnson | Texans | $4,100,000 |
| Latavius Murray | Saints | $4,050,000 |
| Rex Burkhead | Patriots | $4,000,000 |
| Raheem Mostert | 49ers | $3,208,333 |
| Adrian Peterson | Redskins | $3,000,000 |
| Mike Davis | Panthers | $3,000,000 |
| • Rashaad Penny | Seahawks | $2,936,028 |
| Damien Williams | Chiefs | $2,833,334 |
| • Josh Jacobs | Raiders | $2,712,136 |
| • Sony Michel | Patriots | $2,625,462 |
| • Dalvin Cook | Vikings | $2,021,508 |
| • Nick Chubb | Browns | $2,013,571 |
| Brandon Bolden | Patriots | $2,000,000 |
—Ian Allan