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Duke was gone the minute that Baker called him out. This is Baker's team.............for better or worse.

Duke was gone the minute that Baker called him out. This is Baker's team.............for better or worse.

Duke was gone the minute that Baker called him out. This is Baker's team.............for better or worse.

I haven't paid attention, hows Duke doing in Houston?

It was over for Duke Johnson here the moment Baker Mayfield called him out:

Mary Kay Cabot
Updated Aug 08, 2019; Posted Aug 08, 2019
12



CLEVELAND, Ohio — The moment Baker Mayfield walked up to the podium at minicamp in June and called out Duke Johnson, it was over for the running back in Cleveland.

Once you’ve lost your franchise quarterback, you’re done.

The six-month-long saga ended Thursday with Johnson being traded to the Texans on Thursday for a fourth-round pick in 2020 that can become a third if he’s active for 10 games, which is highly likely.

Mayfield is The Franchise, and almost everything in Browns Town is geared towards supporting him. Hiring Freddie Kitchens was all about Mayfield. The two developed a bond and Mayfield trusts him implicitly. The Browns made the blockbuster trade for Odell Beckham Jr. to give Mayfield a dangerous weapon. They signed Kareem Hunt in large part to give him another.

They signed third-string quarterback Garrett Gilbert in part because he and Mayfield are longtime family friends from Austin’s Lake Travis High School. Rashard Higgins has new life here because of his good friend Mayfield.

If Mayfield is no longer in your corner, it’s time for a change of scenery.

When Johnson took the podium on the first day of minicamp and said there was nothing the Browns could do to mend the fences and that he still wanted out, Mayfield listened in from the back, shaking his head.

By that time, Mayfield had spent the entire offseason grinding it out with Nick Chubb and Dontrell Hilliard, and he had no use for a player who wasn’t all in. So when he stepped up to the mic, he let Johnson have it, saying his plight with the Browns was “self-inflicted” and that “he better do his job.”

That day, the husband of Johnson’s former agent Kristin Campbell, tweeted legendary 2 Live Crew rapper Luther Campbell, clapped back at Mayfield on Twitter.

“F— Baker Mayfield for saying that dumb s--- about Duke Johnson,” he tweeted. “I guarantee you be the one to divide this locker room up. You are not in Texas at Cracker Barrel.”

The flap was more of a distraction than the Browns needed, especially for a player who had been steadily falling out of favor with the club.
Day one of Cleveland Browns' minicamp

Duke Johnson and the Browns have reached the point of no return

It's time for the Browns to trade Johnson and eliminate the distraction.

Mayfield’s remarks also prompted some of Johnson’s best friends on the team to discuss in a players-only setting the unwritten rules of getting in a teammate’s business.

“I think we were just bringing each other together as a team,’’ linebacker Christian Kirskey told cleveland.com on July 29. “That’s all it was. It’s no problem.’’

Mayfield seemed to get the message, and by the time camp opened July 25, he said of he and Johnson “we’re good.”

But Mayfield’s remarks were indicative of how the organization felt about Johnson. The club’s faith in the 2015 third-round pick began to erode last season when he got off on the wrong foot with former offensive coordinator Todd Haley and his touches decreased considerably.

In October, he told cleveland.com, "I don’t think these games have to be as hard as they are. I think I can help this team win given more opportunities.''

Johnson frustrated by his lack of chances

Johnson got his head on straight Wednesday after chatting with the teammate who was briefly the starting quarterback.

Johnson’s playing time didn’t improve under Freddie Kitchens, and by the end of the season, his touches had decreased from 156 in 2017 to 87 in 2018. But things really went south when Browns GM John Dorsey signed Kareem Hunt in February and proclaimed that Johnson wasn’t expendable “yet.”

Johnson asked to be traded shortly thereafter, and the wheels went in motion for the trade that took place on Thursday.

Despite the Browns’ public proclamations that Johnson would be a large and valuable part of the offense in 2019, the reality was always that they’d trade him if they got the right offer — a third- or fourth-round pick.

Considering that Johnson has played in all 16 games in each of his first four seasons, the Browns are likely to get the third-rounder — a considerable haul for a running back these days.

Johnson and Mayfield got what they wanted too. Johnson got the change of scenery he’s wanted since February, and Mayfield, in bid to win a championship, no longer has a player on his offense that doesn’t want to be here.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2019/08...-kay-cabot.html

However, Duke was a very good receiver out of the backfield or from the line, either way, and Baker could use a good safety valve, with Njoku and Higgins injured.

I'll pin it on Baker if I like and you and the rest of the crowd can't do a damn thing about it.

However, Duke was a very good receiver out of the backfield or from the line, either way, and Baker could use a good safety valve, with Njoku and Higgins injured.

Duke Johnson active again for Texans yesterday, making it 5 games. Halfway to the 10 games needed to make that 4th round pick a 3rd.

https://twitter.com/BrownsMockDraft/status/1181657597088124930

I hate to keep bringing back this thread, but I’ve mentioned it a few times so far through 6 weeks. And last week’s turnover in the KEY part of the game to Hilliard made me immediately think: “What if that was Duke Jonson?” I still contend that we miss him to some degree. I think he was a safety valve and a reliable player ... and let’s be honest, it seems like our O is missing that reliable type threat. Yes, we have talent and yes Duke intimated that he didn’t want to be here ... but, I think he would have had a role and would have helped

This will be moot in 2 weeks.. Because Hunt replaces hilliard and Hunt is better at running/receiving than Johnson.

This will be moot in 2 weeks.. Because Hunt replaces hilliard and Hunt is better at running/receiving than Johnson.

yeah I agree .. problem is it MAY have already cost us one game. And to me, one game victory in a potential playoff year is worth more than a mid round pick