Report: David Johnson, Cardinals not close on contract extension

The Arizona Cardinals remain in “constant dialog” over a potential contract extension for running back David Johnson, general manager Steve Keim told 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Doug & Wolf on Friday.

That said, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the team won’t come to terms with the running back before the Sunday season opener at home against the Washington Redskins.

Keim said Friday that he has no concerns over whether the team’s star running back will perform well as his contract situation looms.

“Not at all. I think that in terms of the contract, it’s something we’d like to get done,” Keim said. “We’ve had constant dialog — I’m not going to get into the specifics — but we remain hopeful to get something done to make sure that David remains a Cardinal. Based on what I’ve seen out of him in practice, I don’t see any drop-off. There’s no doubt in my mind that David is poised to have a great year.”

Johnson is coming off a wrist injury that kept him out of 15 games of the 2017 season. A year prior, he rushed for 1,239 yards and 16 touchdowns, adding 879 receiving yards and four more scores.

Keim told Doug & Wolf he is not holding off on agreeing to a deal with Johnson to see if the running back can remain healthy through the first few games of the season.

“I’m convinced that David is a guy we want to keep as a core member of our team,” he added.

Meanwhile, Johnson is confident he’s healthy. He’s left the contract extension talks to his agent.

“Obviously I want the contract to be done as soon as possible,” Johnson said Wednesday. “That’s a little bit of a motivation. But there’s so much other stuff, the injury and everything that I’m going to prove — and with a contract, that’s another thing. I’m definitely going to have that in the back of my head when I play.”

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