The Cardinals made their trade of running back Adrian Peterson official on Tuesday afternoon, but Peterson won’t be joining another one of the seven men to run for 2,000 yards in a season on the Arizona roster.
The Cardinals didn’t announce a corresponding move, but Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Cardinals will release Chris Johnson with Peterson joining the club. That’s not a surprising move as the move for Peterson was directly related to Johnson’s sluggish production the last four weeks.
Johnson spent the last two seasons with the Cardinals and returned to the club after David Johnson dislocated his wrist in the season opener. He’s run 45 times for 114 yards and caught five passes for 43 yards, leaving much to be desired in terms of what the Cardinals would like to see out of the backfield.
It remains to be seen if Peterson can provide it after failing to do much of anything during his brief stint with the Saints, but the Cardinals are obviously convinced that Johnson can’t give them what they need.