Cardinals sign David Johnson for a three-year extension

The Arizona Cardinals announced Saturday that the team has signed a three-year contract with running back David Johnson.

The new deal, worth $ 39 million, includes $ 30 million guaranteed, a source told Ian Rapoport. Johnson gets nearly $ 24 million guaranteed to sign and $ 28 million by March, said a source to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network.

The signed pact is an accomplishment in itself for the cardinals, who managed to set up the agreement and get their hands dirty with a kick a few hours from the end. This is the latest in a series of cases (Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald, for example) that have allowed Arizona to retain the best players on its team during his term as General Manager.

Johnson is a bit of a stranger for nothing more than the fact that he missed everything but one game in 2017, a year after winning the first-team All-Pro title. His absence has largely departed from the consciousness of the average range (unless it is fancy).

This is not a fair or effective indicator of its value, however. In good health, Johnson is one of, if not the First triumph in the NFL. Only he and LeVeon Bell have averaged more than 130 yards per game as a starter in the last three seasons (minimum of 20 games), by NFL Research. Johnson also scored the third highest touchdown in the last three seasons (33), despite the absence of 15 games in 2017.

In this All-Pro campaign, Johnson recorded 15 games with over 100 yards of scrimmage, which was tied with Edgerrin James (2000), Barry Sanders (1997) and Marcus Allen (1985). Johnson is also one of only ten players in NFL history to have recorded a season with at least 2,000 meters of scrum and 20 touchdowns, with six of those ten players now residing in the Professional Football Hall of Fame. It is an elite company.

All in all, finding a new contract for Johnson is a huge task accomplished by Keim. Should he get back in good health – he looked good in a limited pre-season action, and got hurt without his legs – Johnson will be worth every dollar of that $ 13 million annual salary.