David Johnson is joining a new team he can’t meet with because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it isn’t going to change the way he learns the offense.
The 28-year-old running back isn’t sure specifically how he is going to learn the Houston Texans’ offense, but is fairly confident he will be using old school methods.
“Normally, I’d just use kind of the note cards to learn offenses,” Johnson told the Houston media on a conference call Friday. “That’s the way I’ve done for schooling and it’s helped out a lot. So, I think I’ll use the same, a note card-type system just to memorize the offense, the scheme, and the plays.”
The Texans traded receiver DeAndre Hopkins and a 2020 fourth-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for Johnson, a 2020 second-round pick, and a 2021 fourth-round selection. Houston is hopeful they can get similar production out of Johnson that led to his lone All-Pro selection in 2016 when he tallied 2,118 scrimmage yards and 20 touchdowns in his second professional season.
“We’ll see,” Johnson said. “We haven’t even used it and started it yet, so I think everyone’s going to have to go with the flow and try to figure out ways to learn the offense or learn the scheme as they go.”
Coach Bill O’Brien mentioned to the Houston media on April 16 that the club will have their team meetings using Zoom video-conferencing software and Discord, an app mostly used by video gamers, for film breakdown.
Regardless of what methods the Texans will use as a team, it appears that Johnson will stick with what has worked for him the past five seasons: note cards.
