Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson is dealing with a back injury. He suffered it at some point in the first half of Arizona’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5, but he played the entire game.
He missed practice on Wednesday and his status for their Week 6 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons is uncertain thus far.
Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury will not push him too much.
“We’re always going to make sure that player safety comes first and make sure that he can be full-speed,” he told reporters Wednesday. “If he’s not full-speed, we’re not going to put him out there. We want him to be at his best, and he knows that.”
It sounds like practicing this week could be unlikely and a decision on his availability will happen Sunday morning.
“He’s the type of player that it would be a game-time decision,” Kingsbury said. “We understand he gets our system, and we can plug him in day of and feel good about him executing at a high level.”
If he is unable to play, it will be a big blow to the offense. He accounted for 156 total yards of the team’s 514 in their win against the Falcons and also had 139 total yards the week before against the Seattle Seahawks.
Johnson will want to play. It is why he didn’t come out last week. However, back injuries can be tricky, so the Cardinals could be without him for the first time since 2017.
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