Chris Johnson to Cardinals: Latest Contract Details, Comments and Reaction

Chris Johnson's second attempt to rejuvenate his career will happen in Arizona, where he'll likely look to compete for a complementary role. The veteran running back and the Cardinals agreed to a one-year contract on Monday.

Jay Glazer of Fox Sports first reported the agreement, with Rand Getlin of NFL Network noting that the deal is worth as much as $2 million.

Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com later confirmed the formalities, while Ed Werder of ESPN provided the specifics: 

Mark Zaleski/Associated Press

On Tuesday, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said Johnson's role would be defined by his performance in preseason, per Urban.

Arians also said he wasn't concerned about the shooting Johnson suffered in March, according to Josh Weinfuss of ESPN. "There was nothing. Except for a bullet in his trap," Arians said, per Urban.

"I'm just happy to be playing football," Johnson said on Tuesday, per the Cardinals' official Twitter feed. "Losing a step, I don't see it. I felt like I was more explosive last year."

Johnson, who will be 30 in September, spent last season with the New York Jets. He rushed for a career-low 663 yards and only a single touchdown, ending a streak of six straight 1,000-yard seasons. Viewed as the undisputed starter by most after signing in New York, Johnson instead became the lesser half of a timeshare with Chris Ivory.

The Jets declined their option in Johnson's contract for 2015, freeing them of a $3.5 million base salary and $5.2 million cap hit. Johnson opened up in an interview on The Rich Eisen Show in February (h/t Brian Costello of the New York Post), talking about his dysfunctional New York tenure and accusing former general manager John Idzik of falsely characterizing his role:

"

Basically, it was a situation where I was going there to be the guy or whatever. It was still said, yeah, both guys [Johnson and Ivory] were going to get playing time. I think it was like after the [third] game or something like that, it just switched over and I started getting less and less playing time, and not knowing where it came from.

"

In May, Johnson was lobbying to play for the Dallas Cowboys.

“I’d fit good in Dallas,” Johnson said to TMZ (h/t Dallas Morning News). “They need it. Yeah. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

While Johnson lobbied to play on the field in Dallas, he made news off the field as well this offseason. Jim Corbett of USA Today noted that Johnson was shot in the shoulder in Orlando in March. The running back was one of three people shot in an incident that left one person dead.

Once one of the NFL's most explosive running backs, Johnson has not broken off a gain of 50 yards since 2012. Pro Football Focus rated him as the 25th most elusive running back in football last season with a breakaway run percentage ranking 17th.

While that indicates Johnson still has something left in the tank, he's always been a hit-or-miss back, even in his prime. With his big-play ability dwindling, he's barely been a league-average back on aggregate the last two years.

Football Outsiders' DVOA metric had Johnson 30th among running backs in 2014, a year after he was 22nd. Johnson ran with a noticeably slower burst, sometimes resulting in the 222-pound Ivory looking like the more explosive back.

Projected starter Andre Ellington is coming off a disappointing 2014 in which he rushed for 660 yards and three touchdowns on 201 carries in 12 games. The team also drafted David Johnson from Northern Iowa in the third round of the 2015 draft. Evan Silva believes Johnson's signing is a clear indication the Cardinals may not have a ton of faith in Ellington: 

It'd be a historical anomaly for an aging back with a large workload to return to a Pro Bowl level. Johnson's career has been on a stark downward trajectory for a few seasons. One could even look at the numbers and wonder if Johnson's 2,000-yard campaign was an outlier in an otherwise good but not great career.

Either way, Johnson and the Cardinals will be hoping he's the exception to the rule in 2015.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.