Arizona Cardinals

David Johnson gets a touching message from his idol Emmitt Smith

Published Dec. 22, 2016 10:00 a.m. ET

Brett Smiley

Last Friday, Arizona Cardinals Pro Bowl running back David Johnson penned a tribute to his idol, Hall of Fame Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith.

In the appropriately-titled "A Tribute to My Idol, Emmitt Smith" appearing in the Players' Tribune, the 25-year-old Johnson reminisces about trying a Smith-style spin move in fifth grade, drawing Smith for an art class project, and by high school, studying Smith's full arsenal of moves on YouTube, like the jump cut. Johnson even named his black labrador Emmitt after the NFL's all-time leading rusher, who was also an Arizona Cardinal in the twilight of his career.

Toward the end of Johnson's essay, he writes: "I’ve somehow never met Emmitt Smith." That will probably soon change, or at least they will video chat or talk on the phone. Check out the video message Smith posted for Johnson on Wednesday:

https://twitter.com/EmmittSmith22/status/811572056571645952

Johnson is going to need to try to keep it together when the meeting with Smith goes down.

https://gfycat.com/OnlyCapitalFlounder

Johnson is having a pretty incredible season, by the way. In Arizona's Week 15 loss to the Saints, Johnson tallied over 100 rushing/receiving yards for the 14th straight game -- an NFL record. That's some ridiculous consistency within an offense that's struggled around him.