CLEVELAND — Since the Cleveland Browns signed free-agent running back Kareem Hunt on February 11, there has been plenty of speculation as to what the future holds for versatile ball carrier Duke Johnson Jr., whom other teams reportedly inquired about acquiring in a trade.
But the 2019 NFL Draft came and went this past weekend without Johnson Jr. being traded, and Browns coach Freddie Kitchens is plenty fine with that.
“I have said this for like a month now, I don’t know where all this trade talk started happening,” Kitchens said following the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft Saturday. “People just assumed that we are going to trade him because we signed another good football player.
“Me, personally, I like good football players and I like as many of them as we can get. Then, it is our job to get them the ball and to help to enable them to help us win in whatever role that is. Duke Johnson is on this football team, Duke Johnson will have a vital role in this football team and Duke Johnson will help us win football games. Am I surprised that he’s still here? No, not one bit. I haven’t wavered and never said anything different other than that.”
Kitchens’ comments echoed that of general manager John Dorsey, who addressed the trade rumors on the same day the Browns confirmed Hunt’s signing.
“I think Duke Johnson is a fine football player,” Dorsey said in a press conference at team headquarters following Hunt’s signing.
“What it does is you have three very quality, really four quality individuals. You have three veterans in there now. I don’t think it makes him expendable yet. What you have to do is you have to go back and research your options and see moving forward what’s best for the organization.”
After leading the Browns with 74 catches during the 2017 season, Johnson Jr. caught just 47 passes and got 40 carries. Despite the lightened workload, Johnson Jr. averaged a career-high 5.0 yards per carry and matched a single-season personal best with three touchdown receptions.
Selected in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft after a record-setting career with the University of Miami Hurricanes, Johnson Jr. has rushed for 1,286 yards and five touchdowns with 71 first downs and five 20-yard bursts on 299 carries over 64 games in four years with the Browns.
Johnson Jr. has turned 235 catches into 2,170 yards, eight touchdowns, 29 20-yard plays, two 40-yard efforts and 103 first downs.
“I can just tell him what his role is and show him when he gets here,” Kitchens said. “All the rest of that is up to him and what he decides to do. My decision is not based on how he feels; my decision is based on what is best for the Cleveland Browns and this organization.
“At this present time, it is best for Duke Johnson to be a member of the Cleveland Browns and everybody feels that way. Him asking for a trade and stuff like that, it doesn’t matter to me. He is a Cleveland Brown.
“Duke is the type of guy that is going to show up and he is going to do his job. He is going to do his job well. That is all I can ask for as a coach. His opinions and his demands and stuff like that, I’m not impacted by that one bit.”
