Cardinals' Bruce Arians: Timetable for David Johnson to return is minimum 8 weeks
The Arizona Cardinals suffered a significant loss on Sunday when dynamic running back David Johnson was lost to a wrist injury.
Johnson suffered a dislocated wrist in the third quarter against the Detroit Lions. He caught a pass from Carson Palmer in traffic and was writhing in pain on the turf after making the second-down play, but did get up and played the next snap, fumbling on the goal line.
While it seems unclear at this point whether Johnson will undergo surgery to correct the problem, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians told reporters on Monday that the prognosis for Johnson is the same as it was for fellow running back T.J. Logan – and Logan is on injured reserve.
The timeline for Logan’s recovery is 8-12 weeks.
Johnson is in the process of getting a second opinion on his injury, but it will be 24 hours until the results of that exam are known.
In a radio interview after his news conference, Arians explained a bit more: “He wants to find a way to play. But you’ve got to be smart. That can be a career-ending injury.”
A third-round pick in 2015, Johnson had a league-best 2,118 yards from scrimmage and 20 totals touchdowns last season. The Cardinals were counting on him to play a significant role in their offense again this year (as were the thousands of fantasy players who drafted Johnson first overall).
With Johnson out, it will be on Arizona’s other backs to make up for the loss of Johnson, and Arians said re-signing Chris Johnson, who was among the team’s final cuts, is also a possibility.
“I have all the confidence [in other backs]. Andre [Ellington] was good, Kerwynn [Williams] looked good, our young guys, we will see what we’ve got. And we’ll see what’s out there,” Arians said. “It’s always a huge blow to lose a top player. But it’s not the end of the world. It’s an opportunity for someone to step up. David Johnson became David Johnson because of somebody’s injury.”
Arizona didn’t need much time to look around: not long after Arians finished his media commitments, reports came that the Cardinals have signed D.J. Foster off the New England Patriots practice squad. Foster, who was undrafted out of Arizona State in 2016, chose the Patriots over the Cardinals and Texans last year and split his time between practice squad and the 53-man, appearing in three games.
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