Cleveland Browns plan for Duke Johnson

The Cleveland Browns have their plan for how they will deal with Duke Johnson. They will keep him for first 8 games of the regular season and should Kareem Hunt stay out of trouble and come back for week 9, the Browns will then trade Duke at the deadline.

The Cleveland Browns plan for Duke Johnson appears to be to keep him for 8 games, then trade him at the deadline when Kareem Hunt comes back from his suspension. This could change if Hunt were to get himself in trouble before then and gives them excellent insurance for that situation, but that seems to be the plan currently.

The Browns do really like Dontrell Hilliard, the second year undrafted free agent out of Tulane and the fact they are willing to move from Duke at all is evidence of it. There is a hope that Hilliard can provide a lot of the benefits Duke has while still giving them what makes him special. Hilliard is incredibly explosive and has great long speed.

But the Browns aren't ready to put their eggs entirely in his basket in the event Nick Chubb were to get hurt and there's no compelling reason they should. Duke gives them a credible back in case of injury, ensures they always have three on the roster.

Particularly in pass blocking, Duke is the best on the Browns roster as it currently stands and is one of the most elusive backs in the NFL averaging 6.5 yards per touch for his career.

When Hunt comes back, he would take over Duke's workload and then it becomes a question of how much he and Chubb touch the ball in any given game.

Duke gets traded per his wishes and the Browns get use out of him before they incur $750,000 in dead money for 2019 and then $1.5M in dead cap for 2020.

Should it work out like this, it becomes fascinating to see what Kareem Hunt gives the Browns in the stretch run and who gets Duke Johnson.

Presumably, it's going to be a team that is in position to make the playoffs, so while the Browns are hopefully marching into postseason football, Duke goes from helping the Browns to potentially being a difference maker to a team that could be playing in January.

After the season Kareem Hunt will be a restricted free agent and if he has a great second half of the year and stays out of trouble, his market value will be significant. The Browns aren't in position to pay him. 

They would get some compensation for Hunt, but they would be in the market to add another running back somewhere in the 2020 NFL Draft. So in the end, they enter 2020 without Kareem Hunt or Duke Johnson.