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          Texans' David Johnson quiets trade critics with first TD of NFL season

          • Sarah Barshop, ESPN Staff WriterSep 11, 2020, 01:07 AM
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              Sarah Barshop covers the Los Angeles Rams for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 2016 to cover the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Milwaukee. She then moved to Houston to cover the Texans. She came to ESPN after working as a writer and editor for Sports Illustrated. You can follow her on Twitter @sarahbarshop.
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          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.

          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.