Which NFL team has the best running back corps? If you ask us here at the Eye on Football blog, we think it's the Pittsburgh Steelers. Le'Veon Bell and DeAngelo Williams rated as the league's top group when we did our position rankings prior to the 2016 NFL Draft.
Reasonable minds can disagree, though. Some might say it's Cincinnati's Giovani Bernard and Jeremy Hill, Buffalo's LeSean McCoy and Karlos Williams, Tampa Bay's Doug Martin and Charles Sims, Dallas' Ezekiel Elliott and Darren McFadden, or any number of other teams' combinations.
If you ask Arizona Cardinals running back Chris Johnson, you'll get a different answer.
"I feel like me and him can probably be the best tandem in the NFL this year," Chris Johnson said, referring to himself and presumed Cardinals starter David Johnson, per ArizonaSports.com.
The Cardinals running backs finished eighth in our position rankings, for what it's worth. Earlier this offseason, I argued that they could be even more productive by shifting some of Chris Johnson's work over to David Johnson and pass-catching back Andre Ellington. CJ2K led the group in touches last season, but both David Johnson and Ellington were more productive on a per-touch basis.
A more equitable distribution that would keep all three players healthy and upright not just this season, but over the long term, might see David Johnson get somewhere around 55 percent of the touches, around 260 of them. That would leave 210 touches for Chris Johnson and Ellington to split. That'd mean just over 16 touches a game for David Johnson and just over 13 a game between Chris Johnson and Ellington. While that may not seem like a whole lot of usage for Chris Johnson and Ellington, there are other factors to consider.
First, David Johnson is the youngest of the group by three years, and has by far the least amount of tread on his tires. Second, he's by far the biggest player of the group at 6-foot-1 and 224 pounds. Ellington is listed at 5-10, 199 and Chris Johnson is listed 5-11, 195.
Not only that, but Chris Johnson was the least efficient of the trio last year, averaging 4.32 yards per touch to David's 6.45 and Ellington's 7.28. He's the oldest of the three by four years, so that's not much of a surprise. He'll also be 31 years old this coming season, and seven years removed from the last time he averaged at least 5.0 yards per touch. It wouldn't be surprising at all if he couldn't produce in a similar manner to last year.
No matter how the touches shake out, it's tough to deny that the Cards have a ton of talent in the backfield. That's part of the reason they had such an explosive offense last season. With Carson Palmer not getting any younger, they'll need that group to carry more of the offensive load in order to keep him fresh and efficient throughout the 2016 season.
