DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Duke Johnson

Back to Duke Johnson:

[Baker's record in games he's played: 7-7
Duke's record in games he's played: 11-52-1
Duke's record in games he played, without Baker Mayfield: 4-45-1

Most back up RBs make 4-5 million a year. See Dion Lewis or James White.

I am not "giving" anything. I am going by official NFL records.

Please stop.

Arguing over his record isn't that important. The important thing is that he called out a fellow teammate and that is indeed a distraction. Please stop deflecting simply in order to win another argument.

Btw..............this is precisely why I don't like talking to you. You try much too hard to win rather than discuss.

Am I seriously reading this. Whoa! Duke was not in position to win games from a solo role in a way that the COACH OR THE QUARTERBACK WERE, x a Million!

How about how Duke was playing Before Hue arrived, were there individual plays that won games, some days he was the (one of the) only guy(s) on offense getting first downs.

And He was the 2ND RUNNING BACK!, it's like giving a speeding ticket an blame for driving to a child in a back seat car seat, to assign wins vs. losses to the solo play of the 2nd RB, who performs well.

The only game the "games started vs games played" distinction would come into play would be week 3 vs NYJ.

In that game, Tyrod Taylor went 4/14 for 19 yards, taking 3 sacks in the process. He was benched with the Browns trailing 0-14.

In came Baker Mayfield, who effortlessly marched the Browns down the field for a touchdown. The Browns ended up winning the game 21-17.

If you want to give Tyrod Taylor credit for that win, more power to you. I'll take the common sense, know-it-when-you-see-it standard over the official stat, since the latter makes no sense in this case.

Could Chiefs explore trade for disgruntled Browns RB Duke Johnson?

There’s an intriguing offensive weapon that has reiterated to the public that he wants to be traded from his current team.

Browns RB Duke Johnson previously requested that the Browns trade him. This came after the team signed former Chiefs RB Kareem Hunt, and Johnson found out that the Browns had been mentioning his name in trade talks a month prior to his request.

Johnson showed up to Browns mandatory minicamp begrudgingly after skipping voluntary OTA workouts with the team. He told reporters that he still wants to be traded because of he feels “unwanted” by the Browns. This has caused a wave of comments from his QB Baker Mayfield and coach Freddie Kitchens that seem to be making an untenable working environment.

Check out Johnson’s comments on his trade request below:



Johnson’s desires are clear, but could the Chiefs possibly be interested in acquiring him? It makes sense that perhaps his name came up in trade talks previously when the two teams swapped Eric Murray for Emmanuel Ogbah.

From the perspective of Johnson’s talents, a trade to Kansas City would absolutely be a fit. Johnson has the reputation as a strong receiver out of the backfield or flexed out wide. Andy Reid is just the type of coach that could figure out the best way to utilize and maximize his skill set.

The Chiefs currently have six running backs on the 90-man roster, technically seven if you include fullback Anthony Sherman. Damien Williams was recently announced as the starting running back, but behind that things are rather murky for the position group. Trading draft capital for a player like Johnson would likely guarantee him a roster spot and limit the potential of a undrafted guy like James Williams making 53-man roster. It could even potentially push out Johnson’s former Browns teammate Carlos Hyde.

I’m not certain the Chiefs are willing to give up on the competition they currently have at the position to add a player like Johnson to the fold. The Browns don’t seem to currently want to trade Johnson. Prying him away from his current team might take more effort and draft capital than the Chiefs are willing to put in.

Things could quickly change if the team suffered a key injury at the position group, but that’s a bridge the team would cross when they get there.

I do think that if Duke were as vital a player as he seems to think that we'd have won a few more games over the years but I'm by no means blaming him for all those losses. There were obviously a lot of things that went wrong during his time here that had little or nothing to do with him.

Most back up RBs make 4-5 million a year. See Dion Lewis or James White.

Average annual contract is a bad metric to use

Yes. Average annual contract is a bad metric to use because it's not representative of any season nor does it factor in future contracts RBs might receive. If you're using it to forecast the RB market, then you will not be able to get an accurate reading. Especially when it comes to interfacing with RBs on the 5th year. For example, average salary says that Melvin Gordon is paid 2.5 mil avg per season, but ignores that he's getting paid 5.5 mil this year.

Instead, I would again, suggest using positional salary per team or at least focus it on a couple of years. For example, in 2019 Duke will make 3.1 mil per year and is the 20th highest paid RB in the NFL. Jerick McKinnon is the highest paid back up this year (and when you average their salary) at 5.75 and 7.5 respectably.

Even next year Duke is going to make 4 mil a year, and will be the 13th highest paid RB in the league assuming that many RBs like Melvin Gordon and Derrick Henry don't sign an NFL contract, which is a rather ludicrous assumption.

So you are saying you think Dorsey sucks for doing that?

Yes. Yes it most certainly is.

Average Salary = #4 WR
Guaranteed $$ = #5 WR
Practical Guaranteed = #5 WR
Contract Total $$ = #5 WR

Choose any metric you'd like, but here are 4.... 4 for 4 menzas.

Then look at his cap hit.

Cap hit:

2019: $3.05 million
2020: $4,85 million
2021: $5.9 million

His signing bonus is only $750K/year. So, if we deduct that bonus, he's still a very highly paid RB. If you want to knock out the $100K workout bonus, he's still at $4 million and $5 million.

He's well paid for an NFL RB, especially a backup.

Now, 20th highest paid.... 15th highest paid .....as CHS noted above, by cancelling out his signing bonus (which no one does for cap purposes) then fine ....... is Duke the 15th, or 20th best, most productive RB in the NFL? He's the 3rd best, most productive RB on his own team. (assuming that Hunt returns to form on the field)

This year it would cost the Browns a million dollars, against the cap, to cut or trade Duke. Next year the team can see a cap savings if they cut or trade him. I think he's here this year, unless we get a knock out type offer for him.

Running back is an odd position because when a team pays a RB big money, they're almost always paying for past performance. Look at the teams paying big money for free agent RBs-- not good teams, in most cases. I don't know why we would want to follow their lead.

I would agree with you when it comes to premiere RB's. But that's really not a part of the equation here.

To me the point would be that many teams would see it as far wiser to draft a RB with a similar skill set than to trade a current player on their roster for a much higher paid RB with that skill set.

The RB position is highly undervalued in the NFL at the current time IMO. But unless a team suffers an injury and has an immediate need, drafting a RB would be much wiser from a cap perspective than losing a player on your roster and paying that price tag.