Cleveland Browns: Revisiting moves that have worked at the bye

Trading away Carlos Hyde

It wasn’t a good move signing Carlos Hyde this offseason. Teams usually don’t win by signing free agent running backs. They also don’t usually give $6 million a season to players who have never topped the 1,000-yard mark.

Now, this isn’t meant to rip Hyde. He’s a fine player and can contribute as a backup if needed. However, the Browns didn’t bring him in with that as the mindset. Hyde was supposed to be the bell cow — and for six games he was.

Hyde carried it 114 times, which was an average of 19 times per game. In that span, he never once hit 100 yards and averaged just 3.4 yards per attempt. What was frustrating for fans was the fact Hyde was continuing to get the ball despite others showing more promise.

For years we have heard the team preach about getting Duke Johnson involved more, but this season Nick Chubb was added to the list. The rookie from Georgia was electric whenever given the chance, but for some reason Hue Jackson and former offensive coordinator Todd Haley wouldn’t use him enough.

Finally, the front office grew tired of the team not using Duke or the rookie and dealt Hyde to the Jaguars. Since then, Chubb has shown his worth and on Sunday he ripped off a team-record 92-yard run. He ended that game with 176 yards and two total touchdowns. Chubb also became the first rookie back since Trent Richardson to get 100-plus yards in two games for the Browns.

Kudos to Dorsey for realizing that youth was the way to go at running back. Hyde would have been a great backup, but the coaching staff wasn’t allowing that to happen and the GM forced their hand here.

Stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference