Cardinals’ David Johnson out-snapped by Kenyan Drake 61-9 in loss to 49ers

Arizona Cardinals GM Steve Keim said earlier in the week running back David Johnson looked good in practice.

Evidently not good enough as the running back was outpaced by fellow back Kenyan Drake in the team’s 36-26 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

“We wanted to KD into a rhythm, we thought he played really well the first game he was here when he was in a rhythm getting the majority of the snaps and so we rolled with him in the second half,” Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters after the loss.

All told, Drake accumulated 67 yards on 16 carries compared to Johnson not recording a single touch. It was rookie quarterback Kyler Murray, however, who paced all Cardinals rushers with 67 yards and a score on eight carries.

Drake took 61 snaps to Johnson’s nine. It was a surprising turn after Drake out-snapped Johnson 43-29 a week prior.

Kingsbury said heading into the game the duo would be used “by committee.”

Welp…

— David Johnson (@DavidJohnson31) November 18, 2019

The failure to record a carry or catch a pass is the latest negative in a season to forget for Johnson.

After recording 298 yards and two scores on the ground and 30 catches for 315 yards and three touchdowns through the first six games of the season, Johnson has struggled to not only stay healthy — missing two games and touching the ball just one time in another — but to make meaningful plays for the offense as well.

“It’s not as much as what he’s not showed us,” Kingsbury said of Johnson. “KD, like I said, played really well against them the first game if you remember so we wanted to get him going again in this game versus them.”

Since returning from injury, Johnson has just five carries for two yards and one catch for eight in two games. Even with Chase Edmonds still on the mend with a hamstring injury, the Cardinals have not looked Johnson’s way often, focusing all of their energy into running Drake and Murray.

Drake has been the bell cow for the team since joining Arizona’s backfield, recording 212 yards and a touchdown on 41 carries to go along with 16 receptions for 71 yards in three games with the team. As a Cardinal, Drake sits fourth among the team’s rushers in yards, but trails only Kyler Murray in yards per carry (5.1). The running back also holds the second longest run of the season (36), one yard shy of running back Chase Edmonds’ 39-yard scamper.

And with Edmonds targeting a return to the lineup after the bye week, all eyes will be fixed on the running back situation moving forward.

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