The Browns granted the trade request of running back Duke Johnson on Thursday by agreeing to send him to the Houston Texans.
In return, the Browns will receive a fourth-round draft pick in 2020 that can become a third-round choice, a league source confirmed. The Houston Chronicle reported the Texans will give up a third rounder instead of a fourth rounder if Johnson is active for 10 games this year.
Johnson must pass a physical with the Texans for the trade to be finalized. He has sat out most of Browns training camp with an injured hamstring.
Browns general manager John Dorsey had made it clear throughout the offseason he wouldn't deal Johnson unless he received the compensation he sought. It turns out the Texans were willing to pay the price Dorsey set because they desperately needed a backup running back after waiving D'Onta Foreman on Sunday reportedly due to being unsatisfied with his work habits.
A third- or fourth-round selection is pricey for a running back. In March, the Chicago Bears got a 2020 sixth-round choice from the Philadelphia Eagles for running back Jordan Howard, 24, who has rushed for 935 (2018), 1,122 (2017) and 1,313 (2016) yards in his three NFL seasons.
Johnson, who will turn 26 on Sept. 23, produced his highest single-season rushing total of 379 yards as a rookie in 2015, when former Browns GM Ray Farmer drafted him in the third round out of the University of Miami.
Still, Johnson became one of the better Browns players in recent years and one of the NFL's best receiving threats out of the backfield. He never missed a game in four seasons, appearing in 64 of them with 10 starts. He compiled 1,286 yards on 299 carries (4.3 average) and 2,170 yards on 235 receptions. He had 13 touchdowns, five rushing and eight receiving.
Last season, Johnson started two of his 16 games and rushed 40 times for 201 yards (5 average) and caught 47 passes for 429 yards and three touchdowns. Multiple Browns regimes struggled to maximize Johnson's potential. It happened again last season despite Dorsey signing Johnson to a three-year, $15.6 million contract extension in June 2018.
Johnson became determined to get out of Cleveland this past winter.
Even though the Browns had Johnson and second-round pick Nick Chubb coming off an impressive rookie season, Dorsey signed running back Kareem Hunt on Feb. 11. The same day, Dorsey said the move didn't make Johnson expendable "yet." Johnson's agent at the time, Kristin Campbell, asked the front office in March to trade Johnson.
Then Johnson skipped the Browns' entire voluntary offseason workout program before rejoining them in early June for mandatory minicamp. Upon his arrival, Johnson explained to media he requested a trade because he felt as if the Browns had been disloyal by placing him on the trading block a month before Campbell requested a deal. Johnson insisted nothing would change his mind in terms of wanting to be traded.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield took exception to Johnson's approach. At mandatory minicamp in early June, Mayfield called Johnson's situation "self-inflicted" and said, "You're either on this train or you're not. It's moving. You can get out of the way or you can join us."
Campbell's husband, rapper Luther Campbell, responded by blasting Mayfield on social media.
"F--- @bakermayfield for saying that dumb s--- about Duke Johnson," Luther Campbell tweeted June 5. "I guarantee you you be the one to divide this locker room up. You are not in Texas at Cracker Barrel."
Johnson fired Campbell in early July and hired Drew Rosenhaus as his new agent. Rosenhaus visited the Browns to discuss Johnson's trade request with Dorsey on July 23 and 29.
In the end, Johnson got what he wanted.
His exit leaves the Browns with a running back stable composed of Chubb, Hunt, Dontrell Hilliard, D'Ernest Johnson and undrafted rookies A.J. Ouellette and Trayone Gray.
Chubb is the unquestioned starter. Hunt is suspended by the NFL for the first eight regular-season games because of physical altercations he had last year with a woman in downtown Cleveland and a man in Put-in-Bay. Hilliard had already established himself as a player who's expected to make the team.
But the door is now open for the likes of D'Ernest Johnson, Oullette and Gray to earn a roster spot, especially with Hunt ineligible to enter regular-season action until Nov. 10 against the Buffalo Bills. None of them has played in the NFL, so Dorsey could obviously feel compelled to acquire a new running back.
