The Arizona Cardinals have had multiple running backs in their backfield throughout the season. Among them, Kenyan Drake and David Johnson have found themselves on opposite ends of the missed-tackles spectrum, per Graham Barfield of NFL.com.
David Johnson has forced 9 missed tackles on 113 touches this year (ranks 47th-of-47 RBs in MT per touch).
Kenyan Drake has forced 8 missed tackles on his 35 touches in Arizona (8th-best).
— Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) November 13, 2019
Johnson has only forced nine missed tackles on his 113 total touches thus far. That ranks 47th among 47 running backs who are qualified for the statistic.
On the other hand, Drake has forced eight missed tackles since joining the Cardinals in Week 9 (eighth-most in the NFL in that span). With this being true, it sparks a discussion on what is going on with Johnson in 2019.
In eight starts this season, Johnson has rushed for 302 yards on 82 carries (3.7 yards per attempt) and two touchdowns. The versatile running back has also tacked on 31 receptions for 323 yards and three touchdowns.
While it's a positive sign to see Johnson be utilized as a receiver again, he has yet to have a 100-yard game on the ground. The same can't be said for Drake, who already boasts a 100-yard game in his short tenure with Arizona.
Altogether, Drake has been given 25 attempts in Arizona, turning those into 145 yards and a touchdown. The former Miami Dolphins running back has caught 10 passes for 58 yards in his two games with the Cardinals as well.
When Arizona made a move to acquire Drake via trade before the deadline, many believed that he would become an excellent change-of-pace option behind Johnson. Instead, Drake has outperformed the team's starting running back in a small sample size.
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