Browns coach Freddie Kitchens: Duke Johnson's trade request 'doesn't matter to me'
Many expected that Cleveland Browns running back Duke Johnson was going to be traded this weekend during the NFL draft.
The 25-year-old running back has asked for a trade, and didn’t report to their voluntary workouts last week, either. With the addition of Kareem Hunt following Johnson’s least productive year in the league, it seemed as if he was headed out the door.
Browns coach Freddie Kitchens, however, doesn’t understand that thinking.
“Duke is under contract,’’ Kitchens said Saturday, via Cleveland.com. “I’ve said this for like a month now, I don’t know where all this trade talk started happening. 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’s our job to get them the ball and to help 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.”
Johnson ran for 201 yards on 40 carries last season, but had 429 yards on 47 receptions and three touchdowns through the air. He’ll likely have an opportunity to help early in the season behind starter Nick Chubb, as Hunt is suspended through the first eight games. Yet when Hunt returns, Johnson will likely see his time on the field shrink fast.
Even though Johnson asked to be moved, Kitchens isn’t paying attention to that request.
“I don’t know the answer to that,’’ Kitchens said, via Cleveland.com. “I can just tell him what his role is and show him when he gets here. 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’s best for the Cleveland Browns and this organization. At this present time, it’s 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’s a Cleveland Brown. If he shows up, Duke is the type of guy that’s going to show up and he’s going to do his job. He’s going to do his job well. 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.”
Kitchens impressed by Kareem Hunt early
Hunt was suspended by the league for the first eight games of the season for violating its Personal Conduct Policy. Video surfaced in November of him assaulting a woman in a Cleveland hotel hallway, and he was cut from the Kansas City Chiefs shortly after.
Now with his new team, however, Hunt has done nothing but impress Kitchens so far.
“He’s doing great,’’ Kitchens said, via Cleveland.com. “He’s doing everything we’re asking him to do. Exceeding expectations from the standpoint of how he is in the building, how he is around the players and how he is on the field. I’ve never been around him until now, but that’s what I see and that’s what we’ve gotten.
“He’s doing things in the community, he’s continuing to work on an everyday basis and he’s not taking any days off from the standpoint of becoming a better person, a better player, and I think everybody is going to see the benefits of that.”
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