Quietly, David Johnson was back. It was the "soft open" of training camp Monday, not the highly covered report day on Friday, when the running back returned to the field. What work was done wasn't as important as much as that work was done, period. After Johnson did not come to mandatory minicamp, it was always possible he wouldn't show up to camp at first (it was unlikely he would've been gone long because of CBA rules and his free-agent possibility at the end of the season), but that's never felt like Johnson's M.O. Even when he missed minicamp Tuesday through Thursday, he was at the team's "media" day Monday shooting videos and still photos for the upcoming season.

The other part of this is also something Johnson mentioned -- he is anxious to get back out on field after missing all of last year. It killed him not to be able to play, and he has reiterated a few times how good he feels. He still is a little disappointed he didn't finish off his 1,000-yard receiving season a couple of years ago.

We will see if Johnson gets a new contract anytime soon. He remains optimistic. The Cards want it done, he wants it done. The last few years have been littered with the Cardinals getting high-profile extensions done in August. Maybe Johnson can be next.

UPDATE: Todd Gurley got an extension Tuesday (it doesn't kick in until 2020) and Johnson noticed:

Apropos of nothing -- or perhaps apropos because the Johnson situation is exactly the kind of thing people might still have questions about -- I'm beginning my Cardinals Mailbag series this week. If you have a question for me to answer, drop it in the comments, tweet me @CardsChatter, or e-mail me at askdarren@cardinals.nfl.net.