Johnson contemplating shoulder surgery?

May 5, 7:13 AMHouston Texans ExaminerAlan Burge

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Jeremiah Johnson (nfl.com}

Catching up on weekend leftovers, I ran across this item from Mike Wilkening of Pro Football Weekly about Texans rookie running back Jeremiah Johnson.

Wilkening's article contains the requisite stuff about how Johnson will fit in with the Texans, but it was the comment about Johnson's shoulder that caught my attention.

"I thought the shoulder wouldn’t be (an issue to teams)," Johnson told PFW. No determination has been made on whether the shoulder will require surgery, with Johnson telling PFW that the decision will be made in consultation with the Texans."

Johnson dislocated his shoulder early last season but was able to play the entire season.  He bench pressed with no trouble at the combine.

While telling PFW what he brings to the table, Johnson said the Texans 'one cut and go' system suits him just fine since he's not a dancer.

Johnson also said he has experience as a wedge buster on kickoffs.  Let's see.  If you're contemplating shoulder surgery, Jeremiah, how about we put wedge buster on the back burner for a while?

What continues to concern me is the situation behind Steve Slaton at running back.

The Texans chose to bypass a running back in the draft and instead signed Johnson and Arian Foster immediately after the draft.  Foster has been bothered by injuries of his own.

The only other running backs on the roster are Chris Brown, who spent the entire 2008 season on injured reserve with a disc problem in his back, and Ryan Moats, who is good for a few carries per game in spot duty but can't be counted on to carry the load if Slaton were forced to the sideline.

I'm not buying GM Rick Smith's comments about Brown.

Prior to the draft, Smith said the Texans 'had no glaring needs' and said this about Brown: 

"Everybody’s talking about the fact that we need another back with (RB) Steve (Slaton), a bigger back, a third-down back, and they forget that we’ve got a guy walking around in our building right now that could fill that role, and that’s (RB) Chris Brown."

Join the club if you spit beverage all over your computer on that one - and count me extremely concerned about the Texans running back situation, beyond Steve Slaton of course.