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Jets' Chris Johnson frustrated with role in offense

Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

The New York Jets' running game has been one of the lone bright spots in a 1-7 season thus far, but a certain former Pro Bowl running back isn't having the kind of impact he and many others may have expected.

After signing a two-year, $8 million free-agent deal with the team this past offseason, Chris Johnson was going to have an opportunity to recapture the form that saw him lead the NFL in rushing in 2009.

At the halfway point of the season, however, Johnson has tallied just 67 carries for 268 yards and one touchdown and is coming off a game against the Buffalo Bills in which he was limited to only three carries for seven yards.

"It's been frustrating," Johnson said, according to ESPN's Rich Cimini. "You have a lot of different levels of frustration. You have frustration when you're playing and things aren't going well, or you're not making plays. That's not this type of frustration, because it's not like I've had the opportunity to really make plays."

While Johnson concedes that he doesn't want to become a distraction in the locker room, he wants more opportunities to help the struggling Jets put together some wins.

"I don't know how to look at it. I don't know how they'd look at it. I've never been in this situation before," he said. "I just want to win. I feel like I can help this team win. I would love to have more opportunities."

Things can certainly change over the course of a 16-game season, but all indications are that Chris Ivory's high-level play will continue to see Johnson take on nothing more than an occasional change-of-pace role in the backfield rotation.

What that means for Johnson's future with the Jets remains to be seen, but if the team continues to struggle the way it has to this point, it may result in wholesale changes at season's end, either way.

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