The Houston Texans have reworked the contract of running back David Johnson.

Under his original contract, Johnson was owed nearly $9 million in 2021, of which just $2.1 million was guaranteed. In the new restructured contract, Johnson will receive nearly $6 million in 2021, including $4.25 million fully guaranteed upon signing. If the running back had not agreed to a reworked deal, then he could have been a casualty of the salary cap.

Houston traded for the running back in March 2020 in a deal that sent wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals.

Last season, the running back ran for 691 yards and six touchdowns. Johnson only played in 12 games for Houston because he missed three games due to a concussion, and one game because he was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

Johnson was selected to his lone Pro-Bowl in 2016 when he set career highs for the Cardinals. In 2016, he rushed for 1,239 yards, 16 touchdowns, and caught 80 passes out of the backfield. Johnson’s Pro-Bowl days are likely behind him, but he can still be an asset to the Texans, no matter who is quarterbacking the team.

Los Angeles Chargers running back Melvin Gordon has threatened to demand a trade if no extension is reached between him and the Chargers by the time training camp opens up in August, his agent Fletcher Smith told ESPN.

Gordon’s agent also said that the running back did not wish to go this route, but due to a lack of progression on an extension between Gordon and the Chargers, felt that this is the only way to voice his frustration in a way that will get the attention of the Chargers. Whether it be an extension with the Chargers or a trade to another team, Gordon feels that this is the best way to get a resolution to his situation.

Other top running backs across the NFL — David Johnson, Todd Gurley, and Le’Veon Bell all recently have received new contracts recently. Gordon, who has rushed for nearly 2,000 yards in the last two seasons, feels that he is also deserving of a new, illustrious contract extension. Gordon is said to be unwilling to sign a new contract that does put his salary near or equal to what those other backs are earning annually.

Gordon, 26, is heading into the fifth and final year of his rookie contract. The Chargers picked up his team option for a fifth season last April. The Kenosha, WI native is scheduled to earn $5,605,000 this season.

During the 2018 NFL season, Gordon averaged 5.1 YPC and recorded 14 total touchdowns for the Chargers. Gordon also averaged 114.6 yards from scrimmage per game, the best average of any Charger since Ladanlian Tomlinson averaged 121.8 yards from scrimmage per game in 2007. Since failing to rush for any touchdowns in his rookie season, Gordon has 1,079 touches from scrimmage (2nd in the NFL during that span only to Gurley), 5,205 scrimmage yards (2nd in the NFL during that span), and 38 total touchdowns (2nd in the NFL during that span).

There are some lingering questions when it comes to the Arizona Cardinals‘ new head coach Kliff Kingsbury and his vision of a “new wave” offense. This being his first season in the NFL, is his most-talked-about air raid style offense going to work? How traditional is it going to be compared to other NFL offenses? Could we see Kyler Murray under center at all?

“You want to have that fine line of not thinking too much, but we want to have enough in that we can still be an attacking, kind of giving the illusion of complexity out there,” Kingsbury said, according to the Arizona Cardinals website.

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Former Oklahoma quarterback and first overall pick Murray didn’t play under center once in the Big 12, and that may relay to the NFL. Kingsbury brings a new vision of air raid offense with his quarterback being in the shotgun. Although Kingsbury promises a pass-heavy offense, the Cardinals’ running back David Johnson could be one of the most vital pieces in his scheme. According to Matthew Berry of ESPN, he believes Johnson will not only be the leading rusher for the team, but may even be amongst the receivers in terms of targets in the air. According to USA Today, Kingsbury’s offenses has had the 10th-most running back receptions since he started calling the plays in 2013. With Murray’s mobility and Kingsbury air raid style, Johnson could see a ton of dump-downs to him out in the flats.

We could also see the read option more than we ever had from an NFL team. Keeping Murray off the ground is crucial for the Cards, but Kingsbury has a weapon of one of the fastest QB’s to ever play in the NFL at his disposal.

“We just try to do things that we think the defense will struggle with,” Kingsbury said, according to ESPN. “If it’s run it every play, we’ll run it every play. If we got to throw it a bunch, we’ll do that as well. Basically, take what they give you.”

Its undoubtable that the league has moved to a passing-favored offense. Last season, 25 teams passed the ball in 55 percent of their play calls, compared to a decade ago where just seven teams passed the ball over 60 percent of the time. While Kingsbury was the head coach at Texas Tech, he was in the top-10 of teams in passing plays, while averaging at least 30 points a game and over 300 passing yards a game. Reckon there’s an immense gap between Big 12 and NFL defenses, the numbers communicate potential.

Regardless of his scheme, the other 31 teams knows they are up to something new. Cardinals’ guard J.R. Sweezy summed it up pretty simply. “It’s going to be fun to watch,” Sweezy said, according to ESPN. “It’s going to be real fun to watch.”

After becoming the first team in NFL history to jump from the worst offense in the league to the best in just one season, the Los Angeles Rams have had a busy offseason, bringing in a host of new players including wide receiver Brandin Cooks, cornerback Marcus Peters, and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh in order to make themselves serious Super Bowl contenders in 2018. Now it appears they’re looking even farther into their future, as they are close to finalizing a contract extension with running back Todd Gurley.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the deal is $60 million over four years with $45 million guaranteed. Gurley was also given a signing bonus worth $20 million. With two years left on his current contract, the extension guarantees that Gurley will be with the Rams until 2023.

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Gurley’s contract extension extends farther than himself and the Rams, though, as it could set a new precedent for deals given to star running backs, especially when the likes of David Johnson and Ezekiel Elliott finish out their rookie contracts. However, the most pertinent NFL player on the periphery of this deal is Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, who continues to express frustration with his current contract with Pittsburgh, a sentiment which he has echoed over the past couple of seasons. He wants a long term deal and a ton of money to go along with it, much like the one Gurley was just given by the Rams.

Bell took to Twitter to congratulate Gurley on his new deal, while also saying that his demands are not entirely farfetched.

NFL teams are typically hesitant to sign running backs to long term deals such as the ones they give to quarterbacks, as running backs take perhaps the most hits of anyone else on the field, and are thus heavily prone to both injury and fluctuating production.

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However, it looks as though Gurley will be worth every penny. He won NFL Rookie of the Year honors in 2015, and after a poor sophomore season (which one can attribute to just being in a terrible situation with both coaching and personnel), he had an MVP-caliber 2017-18 campaign in which he rushed for 1,305 yards and 13 touchdowns on 279 rushes (4.7 yards per carry). He also added 788 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns through the air on 64 catches.

Gurley is as valuable as any non-quarterback offensive player in the NFL and should continue to thrive under coach Sean McVay’s hyper-explosive offensive scheme. It will be very, very interesting to see how this influences running back contracts in the future.

The Arizona Cardinals no longer have to worry about their star running back’s desire to play, as David Johnson has agreed to end his contract holdout and join his team in training camp. Johnson publicly confirmed his return to the team himself, tweeting out a video of him wearing a Cardinals helmet with the hashtag #ImBack.

Johnson missed a minicamp in June as well as a pair of team activity practices as he held out for a contract extension with the Cardinals, saying, “The Cardinals want me to play for them for a long time, and I want to be here for a long time.”

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Johnson’s holdout has been relatively understandable, as is heading into the final year of his rookie contract in which he will earn just over $1.9 million, a huge bargain for a player of his caliber. However, he decided to end the holdout after conferring with his representatives. He said, “I’m here to play football. I trust my agency, Sportstars, and I know they’ll get it done when the time comes.”

The Cardinals were without Johnson for almost all of the 2017 season after he suffered a fractured wrist during a Week 1 matchup against the Detroit Lions. After exploding onto the season during the latter half of his rookie season in 2015, Johnson spent 2016 proving himself to be one of the NFL’s elite running backs, rushing for 1,239 yards and 16 touchdowns on 293 carries (4.2 yards per carry), while also adding 879 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns through the air.

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Arizona is entering what should be an interesting season, as they drafted quarterback Josh Rosen out of UCLA with the 10th pick in the 2018 draft. Rosen is considered by many experts to be the most NFL-ready rookie quarterback, and his progression into a franchise QB would certainly benefit from Johnson being in the backfield alongside him.

David Johnson rushed for 111 yards and three touchdowns, and the Arizona Cardinals thrashed Ryan Fitzpatrick and the aching New York Jets 28-3 in Glendale on Monday night.

Ryan Fitzpatrick Continues To Struggle As David Johnson, Cardinals Rout Jets 28-3

Johnson scored on runs of 58, 2 and 2 yards while becoming the first player to rush for three touchdowns against the Jets since LeSean McCoy did it five years ago.

The Cardinals (3-3) won their second consecutive game. The Jets (1-5) dropped their fourth straight in a rough return to Arizona for head coach Todd Bowles, who was defensive coordinator for the Cardinals for two seasons before landing with New York two years ago.

Fitzpatrick finished 16 of 31 for 174 yards, and was benched in favor of Geno Smith after the Jets’ longest drive of the game ended in an interception in the end zone late in the third quarter. Smith’s time at quarterback ended when he was intercepted by Tyrann Mathieu with 4:20 to play.

Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, back after missing last week’s win over the 49ers due to a concussion, went 23 of 34 for 213 yards and exit the game with a hamstring strain after tossing a a 9-yard TD pass to Michael Floyd with 8:20 remaining.

Arizona scored in the first quarter for the first time this season on the second time Johnson touched the ball.

The second-year running back evaded a pair of defenders near the line of scrimmage, and then dashed to the end zone on his longest run of the season.

Johnson was coming off his best effort of the season– a 185-yard, two-touchdown explosion against San Francisco, a feat that earned him NFC offensive player of the week honors.

The Jets entered the game second in the NFL in rushing defense at 68 yards per game. They were out-gained on the ground 171-33.

New York had 130 yards in the first half, 70 on three receptions by Brandon Marshall. Marshall’s 36-yard catch over the middle set up the Jet’s only score, Nick Folk’s‘ 39-yard field goal.

The Cardinals scored on a pair of 14-play drives in the second half. Johnson scored his second, 2-yard TD run up the middle, and Palmer passed to Floyd for another TD.

The Jets reached the Cardinals 14 late in the third quarter but D.J. Swearinger intercepted Fitzpatrick’s pass in the end zone to stop the threat. It marked Fitzpatrick’s league-worst 11th interception of the season.

The Cardinals will next host the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, while the Jets will host the Baltimore Ravens that same day.

GLENDALE, AZ – OCTOBER 17: Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick #14 of the New York Jets passes in the first half of the NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals at the University of Phoenix Stadium on October 17, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)