Drew Dougherty of Texans TV went 1-on-1 with David Johnson. You can listen to the full conversation HERE. The article below is a condensed version of that conversation.
1) DD: How has the first week of practice gone?
Johnson: It's going great now that we actually have pads on. It's really feeling like football is back again. It's been a long time, what, January? We didn't even get to meet in the spring or anything. So it feels good. The heat, though, that's different, come from the dry heat of Arizona to this humid. It just feels like it's weighing down on you. .
2) DD: What's it like working with Duke Johnson, and what's it like when you hear the praise he heaped on you the other day?
Johnson: That's really cool to hear other players in the League saying good things about me. Since our name is so close together, we went throughout the Combine together back-and-forth, one right after another through every drill in the Combine. So we have been very close, and like he said, we've watched each other's career take off.
3)DD: You got a bit of a jump start as far as working with Deshaun Watson. He came out to Arizona and worked with you, with Brandin Cooks, Chad Hansen and some others this offseason. How beneficial do you think that time with him might wind up being?
Johnson: That was very, very beneficial for me. Especially because we were able to already start figuring each other out. He sees how I run routes. I see how he does a cadence, how he throws the ball. We really started build that chemistry together. So when we do get out here, there's not so much that we have to learn about each other. In that way, we can start faster and not have to pick up on the little things as far as him just throwing it to me. We can start implementing the plays and how we want it to look on the grass. For us to do that before camp was huge.
4) DD: A few months ago, you talked about a dodgeball story from your junior high days back in Iowa. What's the story behind that?
Johnson: Everyone always asks me how I became so good at catching the football. What I try to tell them is that starting in fifth grade, we had a dodgeball league that we did every Friday. We went to the YMCA and it was about, I don't know, forty boys and girls just playing dodgeball. Then it started getting very huge, very popular, where we started traveling around Iowa doing tournaments. It was a good time just to have fun with people around our age.
5) DD: Now, we know your hands were great, but could you smoke some people when YOU threw the ball?
Johnson: Oh, yeah, I was good. I was always the guy that people wanted on their team. We had some great competitive games going on.
6) DD: Which "Dodgeball" character from the movie do you identify with most?
Johnson: That's a good question. I don't remember the names, though.
7) DD: Not the Pirate guy? Or Patches O'Houlihan, right?
Johnson: No, no! I need to go see the names again.
8) DD: You can start, bench and cut these three games: dodgeball, hide-and-go seek and kickball.
Johnson: Oh, come on. I would cut kickball. I would start dodgeball and bench hide-and-go seek.
9) DD: Did you binge any shows during the quarantine?
Johnson: So right now, me and my wife are binge watching "Hoarders". It's really getting intense. People don't want to give up their possessions. I mean, it's wild.
10) DD: How do you think that show would do if you put a laugh track underneath it?
Johnson: It'd be interesting.
11) DD: Your name is David. Let's rank the Davids one through five. Yourself David Johnson, actor David Spade, David who slew Goliath, David Blaine, the magician or illusionist. And David Bowie, the musician.
Johnson: Ok, I'm first. David, who slain the giant. Then I'll have to go with David Blaine. Then Spade, because I like comedies and he and Adam Sandler are pretty good together. Then David Bowie.
12) DD: What's the last thing you cooked?
Johnson: I just grilled burgers last night.
13) DD: So describe to me the perfect hamburger. Or cheeseburger.
Johnson: It's got to be medium, a little bit of pink, maybe a little bit of blood. Not too much. It's an Iowa thing, you know? The patty has to be a little thick. Colby jack cheese. And barbecue sauce. That's just the the thing that sets it over the top right there.
