David Johnson tweets about snakes in the grass after Cardinals trade him

Former Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson posted a cryptic tweet Friday morning shortly after a trade sending him to the Houston Texans was officially announced.

“When the grass is cut the snakes will show,” he wrote, adding a snake emoji to the message.

When the grass is cut the snakes will show 🐍

— David Johnson (@DavidJohnson31) March 20, 2020

The message, a lyric from Jay Z’s song Blueprint2, is a metaphor about the rapper’s beef with Nas. Those bars have been used by several NBA players, including Carmelo Anthony and DeMarcus Cousins, all in reference to former NBA coach George Karl.

Coming from Johnson, who saw his role disappear this past season with the Cardinals, it could mean a number of things.

Arizona made a midseason trade for Kenyan Drake, who usurped Johnson as the No. 1 running back before Drake was transition-tagged by the team earlier this week. General manager Steve Keim and head coach Kliff Kingsbury had said Drake was the “hot hand” and that Johnson would remain an important piece if he remained on the roster.

Keim said the team would not cut Johnson but on Monday agreed to send the running back to the Houston Texans in exchange for receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

Johnson has a brief history of cryptic tweets.

“Surrounded by enemies, I know they praying for my down fall. They really want to see the end of me, know I won’t fold imma stand tall!” he wrote after a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in December.

Accompanying the text was a picture of Johnson scoring in front of Steelers fans who had invaded Arizona’s home, State Farm Stadium.

By that point, he’d become the clear backup to Drake.

“Surrounded by enemies, I know they praying for my down fall. They really want to see the end of me, know I won’t fold imma stand tall!” pic.twitter.com/alcPFUKGEV

— David Johnson (@DavidJohnson31) December 11, 2019

Johnson said the tweet was about the opponent fans invading the Cardinals’ home field.

“I was looking at the photo and there was a lot of Steeler fans,” he said. “Even on the way to the game, there were Steeler fans at our hotel, there were Steeler fans everywhere. You know I have a list of lyrics that I like from Christian rappers and I saw the photo and it seemed pretty accurate.”

Former Cardinals teammate Tyrann Mathieu, who departed Arizona likewise on less-than-cordial terms, took it another way, telling Johnson to join him in Kansas City.

The lyrics were taken by many fans similarly as Johnson’s tweet Friday just after the trade.

Only the latest rap lyric is a much more well-known reference. The timing of it makes it appear Johnson isn’t outgoing on the best of terms with someone.

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