Cardinals release Chris Johnson following Adrian Peterson trade

The Arizona Cardinals have released running back Chris Johnson following the team’s trade to acquire Adrian Peterson Tuesday.

With the team needing an open roster spot to make room for Peterson, Johnson was the odd man out.

Since signing with the team after starting running back David Johnson went down with a wrist injury, Chris Johnson — and the rest of the Cardinals running game — has struggled.

Through four games, Johnson has not been effective. He averaged 2.5 yards per attempt with his best run of the season being 11 yards. In his best game of the season, he rushed for 44 yards on 11 carries.

With the addition of Peterson, the team’s running game might improve.

As a team, the Cardinals have mustered one touchdown and 259 yards on 100 carries. They average 2.6 yards per carry and 51.8 yards per game. They’ve also coughed up the ball twice.

But it’s not just on the running backs.

With an offensive line that is constantly injured, the new back might not find much room to run.

In a limited role with the New Orleans Saints, Peterson averaged 3.0 yards per carry, 0.4 yards higher than the Cardinals.

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