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It comes as no secret that David Johnson isn’t on pace for a season that most Arizona Cardinals fans (and Johnson) would expect. Through five games, Johnson has rushed for 242 yards and has an additional 120 yards receiving. These numbers are nothing to scoff at, but we all know there is potential for a lot more.
Whether it is scheme, the offensive line not creating enough holes, Johnson not playing up to his abilities, or a combination of everything, something has to give. But that something definitely is not trading Johnson to another team.
According to Derrick Gunn of NBCS Philly, Johnson is a player that has been on the radar of the Philadelphia Eagles ever since they lost Jay Ajayi for the year with a torn ACL.
The rumor has been out there for a while that the eagles are interested in Le'veon Bell.... but don't be surprised if they're also inquiring about Arizona RB David Johnson.
— Derrick Gunn (@RealDGunnNBCS) October 8, 2018
Of course, this tweet from Gunn doesn’t really add up to anything. He doesn’t cite that he has heard rumors or has sources telling him things, he just thinks that the Eagles COULD inquire about David Johnson.
But of course, like everything else on social media, this became a story around the league. Johnson himself was asked about the rumors and he replied by calling them “false news”.
It doesn’t even make sense for the Cardinals to trade Johnson at this point. There are a ton of steps they would take before trading away a guy they considered a franchise cornerstone a mere month ago when they signed him to a three year contract extension. And even if they did want to trade him, that would come with $3 million of dead money against the cap, according to overthecap.com.
None of it really makes sense. The Cardinals would not be able to extract the type of value they would want from the Eagles and there isn’t really a reason to even look at the possibilities.