Tuesday, prior to the first practice of the camp, he broke his silence and explained what led him to ask John Dorsey to send him elsewhere.
“I was put on the trade block a month before I requested a trade,” Johnson said. “That’s essentially my biggest issue.”
The bridge has not just been burned it’s been nuked from Johnson's perspective.
“I want to be somewhere I’m wanted,” Johnson said. “At the end of the day, that’s all this is about, being somewhere you wanted. In my case, the moment I’m not wanted anymore, I think it’s best that we find a middle ground and do what’s best for the team. There’s no need to keep me or force me to be here if you don’t want me here. I’ve always wanted to be here, and I made it very clear, especially after going 1-15, then 0-16 and re-signing here. I made it very clear what my intentions were.”
Is there anything that can salvage the relationship?
“To be honest, nothing,” Johnson responded.
Head coach Freddie Kitchens denied any knowledge of Johnson being put on the trade block.
“I don't know anything about that,” Kitchens said. “I would assume that the head coach would be informed of that, and like I said initially, Duke is a Cleveland Brown. He's here.”
Johnson, selected in the third round of the 2015 Draft, believes in loyalty and he doesn’t feel Dorsey and the Browns have shown it to him after he signed a three-year extension worth $15 million last year.
“I was kind of put on the trade block to see what the team could get, and at the end of the day, I understand the nature of the business,” Johnson said. “John Dorsey’s job is to do what’s best for the team and the organization. If that’s getting rid of me for a bigger piece, then I’m okay with it.
“My trade request was to meet them at a middle ground. I was put on the trade block a month before I requested a trade.”
Despite Dorsey assembling the best roster – on paper – that the franchise has had since the AFC title game runs in the late 80’s, Johnson would still like to be moved because he doesn’t feel the Browns are committed to him in the same way he was committed to them.
“I think it showed with my actions and the way I’ve carried myself through two horrible seasons, and then, after the worst of the worst, I re-signed here,” Johnson said. “I’m not a fortune-teller. I didn’t know a couple years later, we’ll assemble one of the best teams on paper. No, I was committed to this organization and to the city.”
Johnson has totaled 1,286 yards and five touchdowns rushing in his first four NFL seasons, but his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield made him a valuable commodity early in his career despite his 4.3 yards per carry average. He’s caught 235 passes for 2,170 yards and eight touchdowns yet never seemed to fit in whatever offense the Browns were running.
Last year when Kitchens was named the interim offensive coordinator, Johnson hoped his role would expand. It didn’t.
“Duke practiced today, and he practiced hard,” Kitchens said. “I expect Duke to be a professional and I think he will be. He’s never been anything but a professional. Whatever his personal feelings are, those are his personal feelings. I’m not gonna dictate someone’s feelings.
“Whatever their feelings are, they’re free to voice whatever they want to say but Duke’s a part of the team All the other stuff is just hyperbole.”
With Kitchens now the head coach and Kareem Hunt set to officially join the team Nov. 10 against Buffalo, Johnson has little reason to believe he’ll be able to make much of an impact in 2019 other than being moved.
“I can be, and you can look at it as me being a big part of this team on the field, or as a trade piece,” Johnson said. “It just depends on the way you look at it, but either way it goes, I can be a vital part of this team.”
Kitchens maintains Hunt’s presence doesn’t mean Johnson is the odd man out.
“Just because we sign another good player doesn’t mean someone else has to get traded,” Kitchens said. “I love good players, alright. And we’ve got some good players. Now we’ve got to come together as a team and I have a good feeling Duke will do that.”
Johnson hopes, if not prefers, to be traded before the upcoming season and not at the trade deadline at the end of October.
“I just think it’s better for me to get ahead of this, and if I’m going to be with a new team, I prefer it be before midseason just to give me a fair shot with the new team and just a chance to make a difference and play,” Johnson said. “Going in midseason is kind of tough, as you’ve seen with Carlos. It’s tough just getting in there because they have their guys, they have their system and you’ve just got to play catch-up.”