Duke Johnson barks back at Browns reporter

Duke Johnson wasn’t happy with a Cleveland Browns reporter taking his comments out of context at a bowling event and took to Twitter to defend himself

Duke Johnson has had himself an interesting offseason, to say the least. The Cleveland Browns backup running back heard rumors of his name being mentioned in trade talk and also saw the front office add a high-profile running back in Kareem Hunt in free agency.

While Hunt is suspended for the first eight games, his eventual return to the field could be detrimental to Johnson’s touches, especially considering Nick Chubb is also on the roster. With all that going on, Johnson decided to stay away from the voluntary workouts and asked to be traded.

It was an understandable request given the situation but the team insists they have a role for him. However, more news broke as quarterback Baker Mayfield came out and spoke on the situation saying “You’re either on this train or you’re not.”

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Johnson hasn’t said anything in response but one reporter claimed he did. George Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal quoted Duke as saying he doesn’t “concern himself” with the comments made by Mayfield.

Apparently, that was taken out of context. At least that’s how Johnson felt as he took to Twitter to let Thomas know he wasn’t pleased with how the reporter used his words.

"“Sir you asked me about the events that happened at Mini-Camp, and I told you I don’t concern myself with that. Why? Because I was at a bowling event supporting my teammates which I told you. You then went on to asked more questions about it and I told you I wasn’t answering questions about that. We talked about the bowling event and Disney world. Then I told you if you want me to talk about football I will when I get back. You then put this article out lol. But I’m the problem right?” — Johnson said to the reporter via Twitter"

Johnson’s explanation makes sense. He was at an event with Rashard Higgins and likely didn’t want to talk about anything that could be perceived as negative. He was supporting a teammate and didn’t want to make the night about him.

Duke should still have a role on the Browns this season. He’s a solid route runner out of the backfield and is good in pass protection as well. Not only that, but Hunt got himself into a bit of a situation recently when he had a verbal argument that ended with police speaking to him at a bar.

Already suspended, that’s a bad warning sign for Hunt and if he did end up losing more time to suspension, or find himself off the team altogether, Duke would suddenly become incredibly valuable to the Browns.