BACKFIELD IN FLUX
Chubb is the man for the Browns, but issues with Hunt and Johnson could muddle the big picture.
Nick Chubb should be a workhorse for the Browns in his second NFL season, at least for the first half of it.
The landscape of the running back position will dramatically change at the midway point, though, provided Kareem Hunt stays out of trouble and returns from his eight-game suspension. Assuming Chubb and Hunt
will be healthy and available to play, it’ll be fascinating to see how coach Freddie Kitchens uses them. Will their touches be about even or will there be a significant separation? It’s a question that won’t begin to be answered until Nov. 10, when Hunt is scheduled to come back in a Week 10 home game against the Buffalo Bills.
The other key date as it pertains to the running back stable is Oct. 29. That’s the last day of the year General Manager John Dorsey would be able to grant veteran Duke Johnson’s request to be traded. The deadline for deals to be finalized will arrive at 4 p.m.
Johnson explained in June he wants out because he feels as if the Browns were disloyal by putting him on the trading block after Dorsey signed Hunt on Feb. 11. But Dorsey is determined to keep Johnson unless the GM receives the trade offer he seeks, especially with Hunt unavailable for the first half of the season.
Trading Johnson could backfire on Dorsey if Hunt slips up off the field. The coaching staff likes Dontrell Hilliard, but the second-year pro is nowhere near the proven NFL playmaker Johnson is entering his fifth Browns training camp on July 25.
The NFL suspended Hunt because of physical altercations he had last year with a woman in downtown Cleveland and a
man in Put-in-Bay. TMZ.com unearthing surveillance footage of the first incident in which Hunt shoved and kicked a woman prompted the Kansas City Chiefs to cut him on Nov. 30. Whether he’s adequately attempting to avoid trouble now is in question because a video surfaced online of him talking to police the night of June 29 outside a bar in downtown Cleveland about an apparent argument he had with a friend.
The uncertainty surrounding Hunt and Johnson is mitigated to some degree by Chubb’s performance last year as a rookie second-round draft pick (No. 35 overall) from the University of Georgia. And if Hunt completes his comeback, he and Chubb are capable of becoming the NFL’s most potent one-two punch at running back.
For now, Chubb, 23, is the man. He backed up Carlos Hyde last year until Dorsey traded the veteran running back after the sixth game. Chubb served as the No. 1 back the rest of the way and finished with 996 yards and eight touchdowns on 192 carries (5.2 average) to go along with 20 catches for 149 yards and two TDs.
ProFootballFocus.com gave Chubb its highest overall grade last season among 61 qualifying running backs. His rushing grade ranked second. Both his 4.47 yards after contact per attempt and his elusive rating ranked first.
Although Chubb is the personification of power, he showed last season he can catch the ball. Still, the receiving skills of Hunt and Johnson are at another level, and Hunt is truly an elite talent who can destroy defenses on the ground or through the air.
A Dorsey draft pick in the third round in 2017, Hunt led the NFL as a rookie with 1,327 rushing yards on 272 carries (4.9 average). He caught 53 passes for 455 yards. He scored eight rushing TDs and three receiving TDs on his way to the Pro Bowl.
In Hunt’s 11 games last season before the Chiefs cut him, he ran 181 times for 824 yards (4.6 average) and seven TDs and caught 26 passes for 378 yards and seven TDs.
Hunt, who will turn 24 on Aug. 6, is PFF’s second-highest graded running back over the past two seasons (he ranked ninth in 2018). Since the Willoughby South High School and University of Toledo product entered the league, he has forced 104 missed tackles, the most at his position.
Johnson isn’t Hunt, but 25-year-old Johnson still poses a serious threat to defenses. At the same time, the Browns have never really figured out how to maximize Johnson’s skill set.
In four seasons, Johnson has 299 rushing attempts for 1,286 yards (4.3 average) and five TDs, plus 235 catches for 2,170 yards and eight TDs. Despite Dorsey signing Johnson to a threeyear, $15.6 million contract extension in June 2018, Johnson had career lows last season with 40 carries for 201 yards (5.0 average) and 47 catches for 429 yards.
Since the Browns drafted him in the third round out of the University of Miami in 2015, Johnson’s PFF receiving grade ranks fifth among 44 running backs who have had at least 100 targets. His overall grade last season ranked 30th at his position.
The bottom line is the Browns are loaded at running back, but Hunt’s offfield baggage and Johnson’s desire to flee blur the big picture.