DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Duke Johnson, frustrated by his lack of chances, gets a pep talk

Duke Johnson, frustrated by his lack of chances, gets a pep talk from this veteran teammate

By Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland.com
BEREA, Ohio -- Duke Johnson, frustrated by his lack of chances all season, got a pep talk Thursday morning from someone who has it even worse than him, and it helped him put things in perspective.

He sat down with quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who was benched in favor of Baker Mayfield in week three and is now the backup QB.

"He told me to just be more positive,'' Johnson told cleveland.com. "Just focus on all the good. It's not all bad. It's not all good. You're going to have some days when you're not feeling so well. Just find a way to get through it.''

Despite the fact Taylor was benched in against the Jets when he suffered a concussion, he helped Johnson get his head on straight. Taylor, who paid for teammates to travel for offseason workouts and was supposed to start much of the season, has kept a low profile since his benching, and hasn't complained.

"He's going through things himself, but you're still able to lean on him, you're still able to talk to him,'' said Johnson. "He's very positive, he's a very good dude. It's his beliefs. It's what he believes in and I got a glimpse of that today just talking to him. Regardless, he's still our captain.''

Taylor's talk had an immediate impact on Johnson.


"I just had a more positive practice today because I talked to him,'' Johnson said.

Johnson admitted he was getting down by how his season was going.

"It could be frustrating but it wasn't over the top,'' he said. "Just trying to figure it out.''

Last season, Johnson earned Browns Player of the Year honors from the local chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America for his outstanding offensive production. He led the Browns with 74 catches and 693 yards, and caught three TD passes. He also rushed 82 times for 348 yards and four TDs.

After five games last season, he had 23 catches for 270 yards and a TD. This year, he has 10 receptions for 91 yards. At his current clip, he'll finish with 32 catches for 291 yards, and 55 rushes for 240 yards.

"I don't think these games have to be as hard as they are,'' Johnson said. "I think I can help this team win given more opportunities. But even with the limited ones I get, I'm just trying to make the best of it. I'm all about helping us win and not going into more overtime games if we don't have to. Win in regulation. I'm all for it. Whatever I need to do.''

Coach Hue Jackson has consistently advocated for more touches this season for Johnson, who was one of the few bright spots in Jackson's first two seasons. In 2016, he finished third on the team with 53 catches for 514 yards. He indicated he could be used more with Rashard Higgins (sprained MCL) out for 2-4 weeks.


"Duke's skillset allows us to do a lot of different things with him,'' he said. "As you see, we split him out a little bit this past week, and I'm sure we will do other things with him as we go. Duke is very talented. Obviously, when he has the ball in his hands, good things happen.''

Mayfield, 15 takeaways and other reason the Browns 'ain't no joke' this season

Johnson, who apparently must still knock the socks off new offensive coordinator Todd Haley, said his primary job recently has been that of a blocker.

"I had a bad first week of blocking, I wouldn't call it bad, but it wasn't up to my standards,'' he said. "In these last three or four weeks I've been blocking more than I've blocked since I've been in the NFL and I'm taking pride in it. I'm having fun doing it because it gives Baker (Mayfield) and our team a chance to win.''

Haley, who played Johnson 51% of the snaps last week after he averaged in the mid-30s the previous three weeks, said he's been trying to get Johnson more touches.

"You want all of your players involved,'' he said. "At running back, sometimes that's a little tougher than others. You can't just run him out there. We've been heavy pass with him in there. We have to make sure that we 'rerunning the ball with him and throwing it to him. At the same time, we are trying to get Nick Chubb carries.


"He had a little bad luck in there in his opportunities, but when you open the game with Carlos (Hyde) running into the teeth of the defense for 10-11 yards, that gets you excited, too.''

He said "it's a good problem, and it's all part of the recipe for being a real good offense. Duke, I think he played more plays than normal. We were in third down a bunch and two-minute, and at the end of the game two-minute, we had a lot of situations that got him in there, but I thought he made the most of his opportunities.''

Johnson, who had one catch for 7 yards against the Ravens and five carries for 35 yards, did come through in a big way in the 12-9 overtime victory, rushing for 15, 5 and 4 yards to set up Greg Joseph's 37-yard gamewinning field goal.

"It's 'whatever' for me,'' Johnson said of the three runs. "Again, I just want to do whatever I can to help the team. And I look at the last two runs I did have, just set us up in great field position. It was kind of an easy run because of the way we blocked it. The o-line did a great job and it was about protecting the ball and fighting for yards.''

With Higgins going down in that game and the Browns not signing veteran Rishard Matthews, Johnson thought he might be called upon this week to play more receiver. So far, he hasn't been told that's the case.


"I wasn't informed of anything of the kind,'' he said. "At least not this week, I haven't gotten any information about it. Right now my role is still my role, but I guess we'll figure out more moving forward. There's nothing different in particular just because Higgins is out.''

He said his mindset is that he's ready to step up and take on that larger role.

"I'm always the emergency (guy),'' he said. "I always think of me just being a security blanket. I can do special teams, almost every spot, I can do receiver, but again....''

He said he hasn't marched in to Haley and complained.

"I've just never been a big fan of going up to coaches and demanding the ball,'' he said. "I've always been the type of guy to let my performance show and my history of making plays do all the talking and at the end of the day it's up to you how much I get the ball if I even get the ball. I'm always going to let my work do the talking.''

Johnson said if Haley "comes to me and say he needs me, 'yes, coach, I've got you.' Other than that I just don't like to feel like I'm trying to do your job. Because it's your job as special teams (coordinator), offensive coordinator, I don't want them to feel like I'm crossing nobody's boundaries.''


Likewise, he hasn't volunteered to return punts even though the Browns are struggling in that area.

"My one job is to whatever they need from me, whatever they ask of me,'' he said. "I never returned a punt return in my life until I did it here. High school don't count because it's backyard football. My first time doing it was here because they asked me to. They needed me to do it. I would do it again if they wanted me to.''

Johnson, who signed a three-year extension in the offseason worth $15.6 million, was hoping to build on his big 2017 season.

"You've got to have a lot of hope,'' he said.

And because of Taylor, he has a little more today.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2018/10/duke_johnson_frustrated_by_his.html

Good for Tyrod. That's a leader right there.

A couple of takeaways from that article:

--Classy move by Taylor. Another reason to keep him.

--Last year, a lot of posters said Hue underutilized Duke. This one of their major complaints was Hue not using Duke enough. I posted comparisons of other similar backs and their touches. Those comparisons were ignored.

--I also said that Haley would not use Duke as much as Hue did. Again, I was wrong.

Well, time to rethink things, fellas.

I think he may have earned some trust from Haley for his late-game performance against Baltimore.

It sounds like he wants Duke to get better at pass protection. If he can then he will get used more.

I just think it's a shame he is not running and catching the ball more because he is by far the most talented runner we have.

I love Duke's attitude, and his willingness to be a team first player. I'll admit I would love to see more of him, but IMO, this offense is in it's birthing stage. By that, I mean, I think Haley is learning still what he has and how to use it. Different teams present different opportunities. Duke will be in the plans, and just the type of player he is, he will take advantage of the situation.


I just hope the media, like MKC, don't turn this into something that becomes a distraction. Duke is not an every down player, and he is not the type of back Hyde is. Let things play out, and I believe Duke will shine when the time comes.

We got a QB that can actually throw down field...Duke was used because the ones before couldn't.

Duke is being utilizes the way the offense is being succesful.

With Higgins out, maybe we can throw to him some.

j/c

It's a long season and a lot of the team and O scheme is new...sit tight DJ...we will need you to get us in position to win again. It's coming.

You could tell he was frustrated by his demeanor on the field Sunday. After his 15 yard run and the chorus of "Duuuuuke" from the fans he just threw his hands up and shrugged his shoulders like "yeah, I don't know why we're not hearing that all day".

There's got to be a way to get the ball in his hands 5-8 more times a game.

It’s Eric Metcalf all over again!

I love Duke. We should at least be using him on some of those tricky plays Haley loves to run with end arohnds and reverses and such.

Do I recall Duke also throes pretty well for trick plays?

j/c

I think we will see more of Duke as Haley gets more comfortable with opening up the playbook. The direct snap to Duke was a thing of beauty.

The D wasn't respecting the pass with TT under center and running Duke into 8-in-the-box seems silly. Now the D MUST respect the pass, but Baker is still a rook and the pre-season-developed offense was tailored towards TT - who is a much different QB than Baker.

I doubt Haley has forgotten or doesn't-see what Duke can do for the offense. Lastly, it's a loooong season and Duke gets dinged up a lot. I think we will see more and more of DJ as the season progresses.

I don't blame him.

Pretty sure Duke will get his touches... Hyde or Chubb will feel it and need a breather as well as the need for another receiver.. He'll get his touches

I don't know that he could be a HOF receiver, in fact I see no reason to think that, but I think that he can be a competent slot guy. (and I would be interested to hear why you believe that)

Duke was in for a lot of snaps in the Ravens game, and he blocked a lot. Why? Because he might be our best pass blocker back there, and our tackles needed help in that game.

I think that Duke will move around a lot .... he might be in the slot some, out wide some, in the backfield some. He's not going to be out there for every snap ..... but he was in for 40 or so snaps against the Ravens. I think that his versatility is important, and the fact that the Browns brought up Hilliard might mean that they are going to use Duke a little more at WR.

However, and I will say this again .... the Browns have said all along that they really like their young WRs, and they have not moved off of that since the final roster was set. The only change to the WR roster was trading Gordon. They have kept the same young WRs they had at the end of training camp, and I look for both Willies and Ratley to get more chances in this week's game.

Duke is by far our best running back. People will let on him for occasionally getting bull rushed, but he's also 5'9 215 on a good day. He's not going to stop a rusher in his tracks all the time.

I don't think it's all Haley, either. I recall at least twice in the Balt game where Mayfield had Duke wide open but chose to throw further downfield to a more closely-defended receiver. I think Mayfield and the catchers as a whole need to get into a better groove. Sometimes, throwing short to Duke and letting him go to work on his defender(s) is a better bet than a longer throw to a WR.

Who else did we have?

2 TE and ....... Duke. Gordon came back very late in the season, and helped some ..... but up to that point, who did we have that was an effective starting WR? Higgins and Gordon were tied with just over 300 yards each. Higgins was cut early on, and on the practice squad for the 1st week, and started only 4 games.

Ricardo Louis? Bruce Treggs? Corey (broken) Coleman? Kenny Brit? Kasen Williams? Sammie Coates? Randall Telfer? Jordan Leslie?

Also, look at who the QB was. It makes sense that Duke would have received the lion's share of catches, because that is the easiest read for a QB who struggled with reading a defense, and accuracy, as well as having no real pocket awareness.

I'm not sure of the exact situation in which this happened but down and distance matter.

So he should only touch the ball six times a game?

That's not what I said. However, his touches will go down with more talented players on the team.

Out of necessity, Duke's touches will undoubtedly increase this week. Willies broke his collarbone at practice today.

Derrick Willies

It was implies.



Does this happen on other teams too?

Or Callaway's....Higgins is out, so he slides right in. Or Njoku cause Baker targets him often. I don't see much change in Duke's touches as a result of Higgins or Willies (lol) being out.

That is a drag. I was hoping he was the guy who would step-up and replace Higgins the next couple of weeks.

My reasoning is simple, there will be some three receiver formations maybe some four receiver formations. Given our available personnel, once you get past Landry and Callaway then at the wideout position you have Ratley,Streater, Duke and for the sake of argument, DeValve available. Duke is the most proven of these options. Until snap counts show otherwise I put my money on Duke to get a significant share of those reps.

Well, that is a disappointment. Hope he heals up well and soon. I was impressed with how he stepped up for that big play in our win. Do you see us turning up our formations ITO receivers we have left? I think Haley has some potential there for a quicker game underneath with the receivers remaining.

If we are talking about Duke the Catcher, how is he best used? I like him out of the slot or double slot right up the seam or on a center screen. Is he any kind of deep threat?

I like Duke coming out of the backfield. I'm not sure he can beat press coverage when on the LOS. I like him on wheel routes and 1 cuts into the flat. I do think you can put him in motion and even run slants w/him.

I think he can catch it deep. Remember that crazy catch he had way down the field last year?

Keep DeValve inline and put Njoku on the outside imo

He’s literally wasting away under ineptitude, so I don’t blame himz

He got 40 snaps last week. Once we realize that Duke is our quick-twitch athlete like tyreek hill, instead of thinking Callaway is that guy, then our offense will really begin to bloom.

People seem to have this idea that Duke can just play WR. But, he's never really done that. He sometimes motions out to WR, and he's a good receiver for a RB. But has he ever actually played receiver?


I do think Duke needs to be more involved of course. I love Duke. He's a ridiculously versatile RB. The offense really should consist of Duke and Carlos at RB for this season. Next year they can figure out what they want to do with Nick Chubb (once he improves some of his fundamentals like pass blocking)

https://247sports.com/nfl/cleveland-brow...impression=true


Johnson had 103 snaps in the slot and wide as a receiver in 2017, most of which happened early in the season. That was a sharp uptick from the opportunity Johnson received at the position in 2016, where he only aligned at receiver 49 times. In turn, Johnson had a career year in terms of catches, yards and receiving touchdowns. The film is limited on Johnson at receiver as opposed to running back, but Johnson is that rare hybrid player who is likely best used at the receiver position and he has video evidence to support his ability to play the position.

IIRC Duke had a massive day at San Diego two years ago ... mostly as a WR

So we should bench Hyde and start Duke? Pound him up between the tackles 20 times a game?

Yes. That's exactly what we're suggesting.