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Arizona Cardinals depth chart ranked outside Top 10 in running back rankings

Despite David Johnson’s presence on the depth chart, the Cardinals find themselves outside of the top 10 in the running back rankings.

By Seth Cox
Arizona Cardinals v Detroit Lions Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Lists and arguing about those lists consume the offseason, yet they sometimes sneak up on you.

As I was trolling looking through different sites I came across this Bleacher Report article on the ranking of every NFL backfield.

Naturally, with David Johnson being one of the five best running backs in the NFL, I expected to see the Cardinals maybe in the 7-10 range, with the unknowns behind Johnson, but with Johnson carrying the day.

What I found was a bit curious, but not just because of the Arizona Cardinals rankings:

13. Arizona Cardinals

Running back David Johnson missed 15 games with a wrist injury last year, and the Arizona Cardinals offense plummeted. How we view the Cardinals’ backfield this season will depend entirely on whether he is the same back he was before the injury. So far, it appears he is on the right track...

There isn’t a whole lot of proven depth behind Johnson, though. Elijhaa Penny rushed for just 124 yards last season with the Cardinals, while D.J. Foster saw just six carries....

Two years ago, Johnson produced more than 2,000 combined rushing and receiving yards. If he does so again, Arizona’s backfield would deserve to be higher on this list—even if Johnson does all the heavy lifting.

Seeing the Cardinals ranked 13th was a bit surprising, but more surprising were the teams in front of them:

  1. Kansas City Chiefs
  2. New Orleans Saints
  3. Los Angeles Rams
  4. Chicago Bears
  5. Tennessee Titans
  6. New England Patriots
  7. Pittsburgh Steelers
  8. Dallas Cowboys
  9. Jacksonville Jaguars
  10. Cleveland Browns
  11. New York Giants
  12. Atlanta Falcons

My how things change quickly. I am fine if the Cardinals are below teams like the Falcons, Jaguars, Cowboys, Steelers, Rams and Saints, but the Chiefs and Bears seems... off. The Titans, with Derrick Henry never being the workhorse? The Patriots because they use nine different running backs? The Browns who have a great one in Duke Johnson but... are the Browns?

The Giants because they drafted Saquon Barkley?

These just seem a little off.

What do you think?

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