Lost in the discussion of contract negotiations and holdouts during training camp has been the persistent unhappiness of running back Duke Johnson Jr. The speedster has spent the first four seasons in the NFL trying to find his footing with the Cleveland Browns.
Taken in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft, Johnson Jr. has been more of an “offensive weapon” than a true running back. Besides his rookie year, he has never carried the ball over 100 times.
By his third season the team actually moved him to the slot as a full-time wide receiver in hopes of getting the most out of him on the field.
That experiment didn’t work out and Johnson Jr. returned to the running back group last season. However, with the emergence of Nick Chubb in the second half of the season and the team signing Kareem Hunt, Johnson Jr. felt that his role with the Browns was nonexistent.
He made his displeasure well known and has been asking to be moved since the beginning of offseason training activities (OTAs). Yet, Cleveland thought they could smooth things over and held onto him.
Until today. The Houston Texans agreed to send a conditional fourth-round pick—that becomes a third-round selection if Johnson Jr. plays 10 games with the Texans this season—in the 2020 NFL Draft. If the draft choice ends up becoming a third rounder it will be the highest draft compensation traded for a running back since Trent Richardson was dealt away for a first-round pick in 2013.
For Houston, Johnson Jr. immediately becomes the primary backup to Lamar Miller in the backfield. The Texans released D’Onta Foreman recently who was the previous backup and now they insert Johnson and. In his place.
Given the potential draft capital that they gave up for him it seems as if Houston has bigger plans for Johnson Jr. than just a change-of-pace or third-down receiving option out of the backfield. Bill O’Brien is from the Bill Belichick coaching tree so it’s easy to envision using Johnson Jr. in a similar way to how the New England Patriots have used players like James White, Dion Lewis, and Shane Vereen in recent seasons.
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