Arizona Cardinals cornerback Will Johnson left the Cardinals’ Week 9 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys with an injury and hasn’t played since. Johnson has been out with a back/hip injury and returned to practice for the first time on Thursday.
However, before returning to practice, Johnson posted a clip of the play on which he was injured on social media and called out the NFL.
What Did Will Johnson Post On Social Media?
Odds are that if you’re a Cardinals fan, you’ve seen Johnson’s post on X (formerly known as Twitter) by now. The rookie posted just before 9 a.m. on Thursday.
The post included a clip of the play in which Johnson was injured. The clip shows the rookie being initially blocked by the Cowboys’ offensive lineman, Tyler Guyton, and then held before being taken to the ground on his back.
The play appears to be holding, at the very least, but the continued holding and the takedown also occurred after the play was over. However, Guyton had his back to the play while blocking Johnson, and there’s an argument to be made that he didn’t know the play was over and was blocking through the whistle.
Johnson left the game injured and has missed the last two weeks. So, on Thursday morning, he posted the clip with the caption, “@NFL this how we playing football now?” The rookie’s post has more than 1.5 million views, 1,400 likes, 180 reposts, and 220 comments. But the reactions are all over the place.
Guyton quoted Johnson’s post with a question mark. The Cowboys’ offensive lineman obviously does not think he did anything wrong on the play.
However, a Philadelphia Eagles reporter also quoted Johnson’s post with a clip of Guyton slapping an opposing player in the helmet. “I mean its Tyler Guyton. This is what he does,” Thomas Peterson wrote.
I mean its Tyler Guyton.
This is what he does.#Eaglespic.twitter.com/8aNi6kNGRl https://t.co/sn8hEYgykV
— Thomas R. Petersen (@thomasrp93) November 21, 2025
Cardinals safety Budda Baker also quoted Johnson’s post, writing, “Sh–t crazy!!!” The veteran shared a similar sentiment toward the play with his teammate, Johnson. However, many of the other interactions are on Guyton’s side, labeling it a football play and referring to Johnson as “soft.”
However, the NFL has been stringent on player safety over the past few years, implementing additional rules to protect against head injuries and lower-body injuries. All the rules change and modify the ways defenders are allowed to tackle and hit offensive players, especially quarterbacks. But does more need to be done to protect defenders?
Yes, Guyton may not have known the play was over and was playing through the whistle, as any coach and teammate would love to see. However, there was an obvious holding on the play as Guyton’s arm was around Johnson’s neck, which wasn’t called, and he was slammed to the ground afterward.
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If a defender took an offensive player to the ground with the same force after a play was over, there would be an unnecessary roughness penalty, at the very least. But there was no flag on the play Johnson was injured on.
The rookie has now missed two games due to his injury, and he’s missed four of the ten games in his rookie year. When Johnson’s been healthy this year, he’s been one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. The rookie ranks No. 9 in the league, according to PFSN’s CB Impact metrics.
The good news for Johnson and the Cardinals is that the rookie returned to practice for the first time on Thursday. His status for Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars is still undetermined.
