He played college football for the Northern Iowa Panthers and was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round of the 2015 NFL draft.

Johnson spent five seasons with the Cardinals, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections in 2016.

He was invited to play at the 2010 Shrine Bowl All-Star Game, where he showed excellent vision and speed.

At the 2009 Iowa State T&F Championships, he took ninth in the preliminary rounds of the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.34 seconds.

[4] Also a starter on the basketball team, Johnson was named second-team All-conference as a junior.

He helped lead the River Kings to the state tournament during his senior season, where he averaged a team-best 15.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.

He was a first-team All-league selection in the Mississippi Athletic Conference and a third-team All-State pick by the Iowa Newspaper Association.

Johnson committed to the University of Northern Iowa to play college football.

[14] The Arizona Cardinals originally planned to draft Nebraska running back Ameer Abdullah in the second round (55th overall) and were speaking to Abdullah on the phone when they discovered the Detroit Lions had selected him with their second round pick (54th overall).

[19] On September 13, 2015, Johnson played in his first career game, against the New Orleans Saints, and finished the season opener with one reception for a 55-yard touchdown.

[20] The following week, he received more playing time against the Chicago Bears after Ellington was injured the previous game.

Johnson carried the ball five times for 42 yards and scored his first career rushing touchdown in a 48–23 victory over the Bears.

[23] On December 20, 2015, Johnson had his third consecutive start and recorded a season-high 29 carries for 187 yards and three rushing touchdowns, while also recording four receptions for 42 yards in a 40–17 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on NBC Sunday Night Football.

He posted 15 straight games with at least 100 yards from scrimmage, matching the Lions' Barry Sanders (1997) for the longest single-season streak in NFL history.

[33] He recorded 124 scrimmage yards (83 rushing and 41 receiving) in the next game against the Los Angeles Rams.

[37] He was named NFC Offensive Player of the Month for October after averaging 145.2 rushing and receiving yards through five games along with five touchdowns.

The next day, it was revealed that Johnson's wrist was dislocated, which required surgery and 2–3 months to recover.

[56] In a Week 5 victory over the 49ers, Johnson recorded his eighth career game with at least two rushing touchdowns.

[63][64] Reception to the trade was highly critical of the Texans, as well as the head coach at the time, Bill O’Brien, with many sportswriters calling it one of the worst of all time from their perspective, while simultaneously praising the Cardinals for "robbing" the Texans.

[65][66][67] On September 10, 2020, Johnson made his Texans debut, scoring the first touchdown of the 2020 NFL season against the Kansas City Chiefs and recording 109 scrimmage yards (77 rushing and 32 receiving) in the 34–20 loss.