When you become one of the best players in the NFL, people notice. And David Johnson has certainly become that. It's not often a Cardinal is featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Johnson made the cut this year, however, in a funky Gulliver-meets-Lilliputians kind of way for the magazine's 2017 NFL preview. The issue features a big story on Johnson as well. (To be fair, there are regional covers, as SI has been doing over the past many years. Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and J.J. Watt are the other cover boys.)

In recent years, it's been mostly Larry Fitzgerald who has been the SI cover boy, including on the preview issue last year when the Cards were a sexy Super Bowl pick. John Brown made it back in 2014 too. But this year it is Johnson, the man who could challenge for 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving. Certainly, he's the engine on which the Cards' offense will run.

"It's pretty cool," Johnson said. "I think it turned out really nice. We knew they were going to do a story. I did not know if I was going to be on the cover or not. They said I had a good chance. Once I saw it, it was amazing. It's an amazing feeling.

"I hope to get a copy real soon."

Teammate Chris Johnson, who himself got an SI cover once upon a time, said it's a dream to get an SI cover. "I definitely like his, all the players falling off him," Chris Johnson said.