Jets’ Chris Johnson won’t come close to his Titans average of 290 carries per year this season
By Mike Dyce
The Tennessee Titans parted ways with running back Chris Johnson, and he found his way to the New York Jets. While Johnson is still committed to being a featured back, he finds himself in a deep backfield and likely missing out on some touches.
“I definitely think it’s going to be the committee approach,” coach Rex Ryan said Tuesday, via ESPN New York. “When you have Chris Ivory and Chris Johnson and Bilal Powell, I would think that’s a pretty safe bet.”
Ryan added that all three are “capable of being starters themselves, so I think we’ll play all of them. Will we ride the hot hand? Sure, that’s always a possibility also.”
With three running backs capable of starting in one backfield, and using a committee approach, it only is logical that Johnson’s carries would go down from what he was used to while playing for the Titans.
ESPN New York’s Rich Cimini wrote: “The hunch here is that Johnson will end up with the most carries, but it won’t be close to his yearly average (290) and it won’t be a landslide over Ivory and Powell. Don’t forget, Johnson will be involved in the passing game, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he catches at least 40 passes.”
We’ll see if that flies with Johnson, he likely had to know this was the direction they were going before signing with the team though, so one would assume he is okay with it.