It is expected that the Arizona Cardinals will run their offense primarily out of the shotgun, as head coach Kliff Kingsbury believes there is no real disadvantage having the quarterback there instead of under center. That means a lot of running the ball out of that formation.
Running back David Johnson has experience doing that, having come from a spread offense in college at Northern Iowa.
In the pros, his production has been both good and bad.
Pro Football Focus shared the numbers.
In 2016, when he rushed for more than 1,200 yards, he averaged more than six yards per carry. That was in Bruce Arians’ offense with Carson Palmer as his quarterback.
2018 was a different story. With Sam Bradford and Josh Rosen at quarterback running Mike McCoy’s offense that later became Byron Leftwich’s offense, he only gained 2.3 yards per attempt out of the shotgun.
Kingsbury likes using the shotgun and he will have rookie Kyler Murray as his quarterback, who ran an offense at Oklahoma that was almost exclusively out of the shotgun.
What will the results be in 2019 for Johnson? If Kingsbury and Murray are as advertised, Johnson should be great again.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
