Cardinals may have to pay part of David Johnson’s contract to trade him

Captain Fear

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Mar 20, 2019
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Cardinals G.M. Steve Keim has said running back David Johnson won’t be cut. But could Johnson be traded?

The easy answer is yes. The harder part comes from figuring out whether another team would take on a $10.2 million guaranteed salary for 2020, plus another $2.1 million in fully-guaranteed salary for 2021 that vests on March 20.

That’s a lot to pay for a guy who has fallen off in recent years — and who fell behind Kenyan Drake during the 2019 season. And it suggests that, if the Cardinals want to trade Johnson, they may have to pay part of his salary, like the Dolphins did last year when sending quarterback Ryan Tannehill to the Titans.

Or, alternatively, the Cardinals may have to send draft-pick compensation to Johnson’s new team, like the Browns did when acquiring Brock Osweiler from the Texans in 2017. Cleveland basically bought a second-round draft pick for the $16 million (minus the one-year veteran minimum paid by the Broncos) that they gave to Osweiler.

Johnson had 715 yards from scrimmage in 2019, averaging fewer than 3.7 yards per rushing attempt. He had 1,386 yards from scrimmage in 2018, which is solid but far less than the 1,000/1,000 rushing/receiving season he has targeted since getting 1,239 yards rushing and 879 receiving in 2016, his second season in the NFL.

The Buccaneers become an obvious landing spot for Johnson, given that his best years came while playing for Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians. Last year, Arians mad clear that he has no desire to “overpay” for the running back position, which suggests that the Buccaneers wouldn’t happily take on $10.2 million in guaranteed 2020 pay for Johnson, especially since he’s now four years removed from the season that placed him among the top running backs in the league.

Of course, the Cardinals could always keep Johnson, let him compete with Drake (if he stays), and keep Johnson around as insurance against the inevitability of running back injuries. They’ll be paying him $10.2 million whether they keep him or cut him; ultimately, the Cardinals will need to assess whether they can (and whether they should) pay all of that to facilitate a trade — or whether they should give up a draft pick to get some other team to pay all of it.
 
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