Report: Browns RB Duke Johnson Wants to Be Traded

While most of the Browns roster are excited for 2019 and what lies ahead, it appears you can’t put running back Duke Johnson on that list.

Cleveland.com reports that Johnson’s reps have asked the Browns to trade their client, this after the team added free agent running back Kareem Hunt this offseason.

The Jets, Texans and Eagles have all been interested in Johnson ever since the Browns signed running back Kareem Hunt, a league source said.

Johnson, perhaps making a statement about wanting to be here, was a no-show for the Browns’ voluntary offseason program Monday, coach Freddie Kitchens said.

Kitchens said he didn’t know if it was in response to the Browns Hunt and all the trade rumors swirling around Johnson.

“It’s what he chose to do,” said Kitchens. “It’s all voluntary.”

Johnson joined Emmanuel Ogbah as two veteran players who chose not to attend, and Ogbah was subsequetly traded to the Chiefs for safety Eric Berry.

Browns GM John Dorsey, asked at the NFL Annual meetings last week if Johnson has asked to be trade, said he hasn’t talked to him.

But his reps have spoken to others in the building and made it clear he wants to be dealt.

The team won’t have Hunt for the first eight games after he was suspended by the league for his incident involving a woman last February in a Cleveland hotel in which he assaulted the woman.

The incident led to his eventual release from the Kansas City Chiefs when the video of him and the woman came out.

Johnson signed a three-year, $15.6 million contract extension with the Browns last June, getting a $3 million signing bonus and $7.57 million in guarantees.

Last season Johnson ended up with 40 rushes for 201 yards, and 47 grabs for 429 yards and three scores.