Bruce Arians hoping Cardinals get David Johnson back ‘by Thanksgiving or Christmas’

The Arizona Cardinals suffered a crushing blow when running back David Johnson suffered a wrist injury in Sunday’s season-opening loss against the Detroit Lions that required surgery.

But Cardinals coach Bruce Arians is trying to stay optimistic.

‘Andre Ellington was the guy that we drafted David Johnson to play behind’

“Hopefully, as miraculous as he came back from that knee injury last year, I’m hoping we can possibly get him back by Thanksgiving or Christmas,” Arians told Jeff Rickard and Bill Polian on Late Hits.

In the meantime, the Cardinals are going back to Andre Ellington, the man who was supposed to have been their lead runner before Johnson returned to action. They’ll also do whatever they can to maximize the other backs on their roster.

‘This has happened to us a couple of times, so it’s a great opportunity for Kerwynn Williams and Andre’

“Andre Ellington was the guy that we drafted David Johnson to play behind and then he got hurt, Chris Johnson (who the Cardinals re-signed) got hurt and there’s David Johnson,” Arians said. “This has happened to us a couple of times, so it’s a great opportunity for Kerwynn Williams and Andre, and we’ll get Chris Johnson back up to speed.

“We kind of built it around Andre a few years back and David. So we still have those pieces. Kerwynn’s been a runner for us and every time he’s gotten his chance, he’s played really well. And then we know what Chris does well, so we’re trying to have a great feel for all these guys and what they do best and we’ll try to put them in the best positions that they can be successful.”