TEMPE, Ariz. -- David Johnson has more important things to worry about as he rehabs from wrist surgery than all the fantasy football teams whose seasons he ruined this year by getting hurt.
"No, no, that's the last thing," the Cardinals' star running back said Wednesday in his first public comments since suffering a dislocated wrist in a Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions. "Fantasy is the last thing on my mind right now."
Johnson said that he doesn't have a timeline to return from wrist surgery.
"Really just see how it goes," Johnson said as he faced a gaggle of cameras and reporters in front of his locker. "Just rehab obviously after the cast and everything. We'll see what happens."
Johnson didn't know how long he will have a cast on his left wrist, which was injured while he made a 24-yard catch in the third quarter on Sept. 10. He was put on injured reserve on Sept. 12 so the earliest he can play in a game is Week 10 against Seattle on a Thursday night.
"I'm really just trying to make sure my wrist is 100 percent," he said.
Johnson didn't realize the severity of his injury right when it happened, he said. He was more concerned about getting his wind back after that play and didn't feel that his wrist was hurt. Later in the game he sensed something was wrong with it but thought it was more of a sprain than anything else and that he would be able tape it up more and play.
When Johnson fumbled on his next carry, he couldn't feel the football in his hands.
"The guy had hit it out and I actually didn't feel the football as much," he said. "It didn't feel like I was holding the football as strong as I normally do. I think that's when I realized that something is not right."
Johnson's fears were confirmed the next morning when he talked with Cardinals trainer Tom Reed and team doctors, who explained the extent of the injury.
That's when the emotions set it.
"I was ticked off at first, especially the day of the injury just because it was a big moment of the game," Johnson said. "It was a close game. I had fumbled and it was the first game. I was really upset. I was really frustrated with myself, really down on myself and then after I talked to Tom, after I talked to family members, the players communicating with me, I just faced the facts. Just stayed positive and get through it."
Johnson, 25, said a bevy of players from around the league reached out to him in the days after the injury including Seattle's Tyler Lockett, Detroit's Ameer Abdullah, the Los Angeles Rams' Todd Gurley, Miami's Jay Ajayi.
They all shared the same message with him: Keep your head up and keep pushing through the adversity.
Johnson hasn't started rebuilding his cardio and working out his lower body yet. He's been instructed to rest as much as he can so his wrist can heal properly. But that's been tough.
"I'm a guy who does not like sitting around," he said. "I always want to do stuff. I think it's more tough on my wife. She's kind of getting a little annoyed by me because I don't want to sit there and hang out."
Johnson said he's been getting frustrated lately by trying to do small tasks that he always took for granted, like tying his shoes or taking a shower. He estimated it takes him about 1 minute, 30 seconds to tie his shoes.
"Those little things, the tedious things you do every day, become difficult," he said.
But the toughest part of having his wrist in a cast is not being able to play with his 8-month-old son as much as he used to.
"I can't really carry him," he said. "I get nervous. He's starting to get a little more squirmy, so it's hard to carry him; and my wife, she doesn't really trust me carrying him. That's probably the toughest thing."