The Browns expect to know in a couple of weeks how many games newly signed running back Kareem Hunt will serve in 2019. Hunt remains on the Commissioner Exempt list, where he landed Nov. 30 after video surfaced of him kicking and shoving a woman.
The length of Hunt’s punishment for this year could play a big part in how long Duke Johnson remains with the team.
Reporters asked Browns General Manager John Dorsey on Monday about Johnson’s future.
“I don’t think it makes him expendable yet,” Dorsey said, via Pat McManamom of ESPN. “What you have to do is you have to go back and research your options and see moving forward what’s best for the organization.”
Johnson’s $1.8 million base salary for 2019 becomes fully guaranteed March 17, Adam Caplan reports.
As it is, Johnson’s role with the team has diminished since his first season. He averaged 10.3 touches as a rookie in 2015. He averaged only 5.4 in 2018 despite averaging 5.0 yards per carry and 9.1 yards per catch.
Johnson now has Nick Chubb in front of him, and at some point next season, Hunt will return. So where does that leave Johnson?
Probably elsewhere.