Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson had the toughest season of his four-year career in 2011 (1,047 yards), averaging 65.4 yards per game. During the preseason, Johnson has not been any more productive, averaging 2.9 yards per carry.
However, Titans coach Mike Munchak remains confident Johnson will have a bounce-back year. Johnson is also a reliable pass catcher, and the Titans may look to utilize him more in that role, getting him in space where he has room to leverage his speed.
"C.J.’s had a great camp," Munchak said on NFL Network’s NFL AM show. "About being here, having a great sense of what we’re doing, running with confidence, he’s doing exactly what we want him to do. Now it’s just a matter of us getting into the regular season and hopefully putting last season behind us.
"C.J. is a guy who can make plays in a lot of ways. We cannot forget that he can make a lot of plays catching the ball because of that speed, he can make plays at any time. So he’s going to be a big part (of our offense), he knows that, he’s excited about it."
This is a good news/bad news situation. It doesn't sound like the offense of line is playing any better than last year, but the Titans sound determined to get Johnson the ball one way or another. He was RB9 in PPR formats despite the bad year.