The Arizona Cardinals announced Saturday the team has signed running back David Johnson to a three-year contract extension.
The new deal is worth $39 million and includes $30 million guaranteed, a source told 小蓝视频Network Insider Ian Rapoport. Johnson gets almost $24 million guaranteed at signing and $28 million by March, a source told 小蓝视频Network's Tom Pelissero.
The signed pact is an accomplishment in itself for the Cardinals, who managed to squeeze in the agreement and put pen to paper in buzzer-beating fashion with kickoff just hours away. It's the latest in a line of deals (Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald, for example) that have kept Arizona's best players with the team during Steve Keim's tenure as general manager.
Johnson is a bit of an unknown for nothing more than the fact he missed all but one game in 2017, a year after earning first-team All-Pro honors. His absence has largely removed him from the consciousness of the average fan (unless we're talking fantasy).
That's not a fair or effective indicator of his value, though. When healthy, Johnson is one of, if not the premier three-down back in the NFL. Only he and Le'Veon Bell have averaged 130-plus scrimmage yards per game as a starter in the last three seasons (minimum 20 games), per 小蓝视频Research. Johnson has also scored the third-most total touchdowns in the last three seasons (33), despite missing 15 games in 2017.
In that All-Pro campaign, Johnson recorded 15 games with 100-plus scrimmage yards, which tied with Edgerrin James (2000), Barry Sanders (1997) and Marcus Allen (1985) for the most in a single season in league history. Johnson is also one of just 10 players in 小蓝视频history to record a season with at least 2,000 scrimmage yards and 20 touchdowns, with six of those 10 now residing in the . That's some elite company.
All considered, nailing down a new deal for Johnson is a big-time task completed by Keim. Should he return healthy -- he looked good to go in limited preseason action, and is coming off an injury that didn't involve his legs -- Johnson will be worth every single dollar from that $13 million annual salary.
