Running back David Johnson looked like his former All-Pro self during the Houston Texans’ second drive of Thursday’s season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, running for 33 yards and a touchdown on three carries and a catch for five yards.
Johnson capped the drive with a 19-yard touchdown run by breaking toward the right sideline and evading multiple Chiefs defenders to get into the corner of the end zone.
.@DavidJohnson31 is back.
19-yard rush for the first TD of the 2020 season! #WeAreTexans
?: #HOUvsKC on NBC
?: Watch free on NFL App // Yahoo Sports App: https://t.co/JE1vatFZxv pic.twitter.com/ZfczE1autr— NFL (@NFL) September 11, 2020
It was his longest rushing touchdown since Week 3 of the 2016 season, according to ESPN Stats & Information. His longest run in 2019 was only 18 yards.
Johnson came to Houston in a blockbuster trade that sent All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals in March. Johnson, who signed a three-year, $39 million extension in 2018, has a cap hit of $11.2 million in 2020 — significantly more than 2019 starter Carlos Hyde made in his lone season in Houston ($2.8 million), when he rushed for 1,070 yards.
Johnson reached a max speed of 19.96 mph on his TD run, his second-fastest max speed on a carry in the last two seasons (20.84 in Week 1 of 2019), per NFL Next Gen Stats.
