Berea, OH (92.3 The Fan) – One of the biggest surprises of the 2019 NFL Draft for the Cleveland Browns is that Duke Johnson Jr. was not traded.
General manager John Dorsey made only one trade – to move up three spots in round 2 to select LSU cornerback Greedy Williams – during the draft and he was able to keep Johnson in the process.
Head coach Freddie Kitchens bristled a bit on Saturday when asked about Johnson still being here.
“Duke’s under contract. I don’t know where all this trade talk started happening,” Kitchens said. “People just assumed that we’re 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 and then it’s our job to get them the ball and 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. So, am I surprised that he is still here? No, not one bit and I haven’t wavered.”
Sure, the addition of Kareem Hunt in February tipped off the trade talk, but Johnson has since requested to be traded, and so the conversation and speculation has intensified as a result.
Johnson has yet to be seen this offseason during the voluntary program and the question is, how do John Dorsey and Kitchens mend the fence with the disgruntled back?
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Kitchens said. “I’m just going to shoot him straight and tell him what his role is and then show him when he gets here and things like that. All the rest of that is up to him and what he decides to do.”
With Hunt suspended for the first eight games of the season and not eligible to debut for the Browns until Nov. 10 against Buffalo, Johnson appears to be the No. 2 back on the depth chart, meaning he still has tremendous value to the Browns.
Kitchens won’t allow Johnson’s request to affect how he coaches or runs the team.
“My decision is not based on how he feels. My decision is based on what’s best for the Cleveland Browns and this organization,” Kitchens said. “At this present time, it’s best for Duke Johnson to be a member of the Cleveland Browns and everybody feels that way so him asking for a trade and stuff like [that], it doesn’t matter to me.”
While it doesn’t seem likely Johnson will show his face in Berea anytime soon, at least not until the mandatory veteran minicamp in June, Kitchens has put the ball in the running back’s court.
“He’s a Cleveland Brown and if he shows up, Duke’s the type of guy that’s going to show up and he’s going to do his job and he’s going to do his job well,” Kitchens said. “And that’s 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.”
