The 2015 class of rookie running backs has been disappointing.
Unless you picked up Todd Gurley relatively early in your draft or Thomas Rawls late on, you've likely been disappointed by your selection from the 2015 class. Melvin Gordon, the second back selected in the draft, has played in 13 games without scoring a single touchdown. T.J. Yeldon, the third back taken, has just two games with 100+ rushing yards and has three total touchdowns on the year. Ameer Abdullah and Tevin Coleman haven't been any more relevant.
Each of the top backs taken in this year's class have struggled to make a big impression except for Gurley. Duke Johnson Jr of the Cleveland Browns isn't an exception either. Entering Week 15, Johnson had just 88 carries for 296 yards and no touchdowns with 49 receptions for 446 yards and two touchdowns.
Johnson's lack of production is somewhat different from those around him though. He missed training camp and the preseason because of injury. Once he was healthy, the Browns staggered his usage. He was particularly inactive as a runner, managing just one game with more than nine rushing attempts in a single game over the first 12 games of the year. In five of those games he had five or fewer carries.
The Browns viewed Johnson as a receiving back this season. They have relied on Isaiah Crowell and others to run the ball, while Johnson has seven games with at least four receptions. At least, he had seven games with four receptions before the Week 15 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks.
In Week 15, Johnson added five more receptions for 39 yards while carrying the ball four times for 46 yards. The Browns have continued to make Johnson a bit-part player in their offense. It's unclear if that is how they see him moving forward, one of the main knocks on Johnson was his size coming out so that made some question his durability. If the Browns see Johnson as just a receiving back, he will have a limited ceiling.
Drafting a receiving back in the top half of the third round of any draft is aggressive. Where the Browns selected Johnson suggests that they see him more than as just a receiving back. That is presuming there is competent coaching and thought process behind their decisions. That's not a safe presumption to make with any team, especially not one with the Browns' recent track record.
If the Browns don't limit Johnson's usage moving forward, he will have the potential to follow a similar career path to Jamaal Charles. He likely won't be as good as Charles, but Johnson has shown off similar explosiveness in the NFL and proved in college that he could be a smart back while carrying the load of an offense.
The Browns have a potentially great offensive line, so if they do invest in Johnson with more carries, the combination could be extremely productive.
Against the Seahawks, the majority of Johnson's yards came on one run. Facing a Second-and-16, Johnson lined up next to Johnny Manziel in the backfield. He is going to take the ball cleanly up the middle and gain 39 yards without being touched. Even though Johnson isn't touched, it doesn't mean that this was an easy run. He had to show off his impressive speed, but he also had to set up his run on the second level.
Johnson has a lead blocker who pulls from the left side of the field. He runs to wide open space behind that blocker, comfortably clearing the line of scrimmage.
What's important to note is the angle at which Johnson follows his lead blocker. He is directly aligned to the blocker's right shoulder, his outside shoulder in this situation. He is doing that so he can press the running lane to his right where there are multiple defenders converging to stop him. At the perfect time, Johnson cuts back towards the left running lane and does so at such a speed that the two defenders in the right running lane are taken out of the play.
Furthermore, the safety coming down in run support slips to the ground because he overplayed the right running lane. The safety was reacting Johnson's intial movements. He was drawn out of position rather than just lacking discipline. Johnson was too fast to accelerate away from him to recover.
This kind of quickness, long speed and awareness to exploit space is what makes Johnson an intriguing option moving forward. He isn't a big player, but he doesn't run with any fear. Johnson is aggressive in attacking gaps in the defensive line and when he hesitates he is doing so in an effort to create a running lane rather than try to escape to either sideline.
Against the San Francisco 49ers last week, Johnson had another long run when he broke through the defense by running between the tackles. The Browns tried to give him the ball with a lead blocker pulling across the formation with a similar play call. On this occasion though, the right side of the line was immedlately collapsing on him. Johnson was very quick to recognize that he wouldn't have a way of getting back to the line of scrimmage if he followed the design of the play.
You typically don't want your back to run through a lane that is created by one of your linemen pulling, but on this occasion it was Johnson's best chance of getting back to the line of scrimmage.
Not only did Johnson manage to do that, he was so quick to turn and accelerate thorugh the hole that he could advance downfield for a big play. He was fortunate that the linebacker on the second level wasn't waiting for him in the hole, but Johnson still had to get through the hole before the two defensive linemen closed it off from either side.
This is a play the Browns have run quite a bit with Johnson this year because they can trust him to make the right reads as he approaches the line of scrimmage.
Running from shotgun formations isn't an issue for Johnson. He is quick enough and balanced enough to quickly get to the line of scrimmage from a standing start. He can comfortably stretch plays outside when he needs to also, which is what he does on this play. Johnson is not only fast enough to force the play wide in a hurry, he knows when to cut upfield and is able to handoff the tackle attempt from the much bigger defensive lineman in the hole.
He accelerates past a linebacker on the second level, maintaining his balance as the linebacker punches his shoulder, before squaring up to a defensive back.
Most backs of Johnson's stature would be happy to get to this point of the play. That is not who Johnson is. He not only is aggressive in attacking the impending contact, but his power and low center of gravity combine to allow him to create three or four more yards after the point where the tackle begun. This is a hugely impressive play considering it stretched the running back's skill set in so many different directions.
There is no reason to think that Johnson couldn't be a consistently effective running back if given the ball in more traditional formations. He should improve running the ball from singleback and I formation plays. He wasn't just a receiving back in college and he shouldn't just be a receiving back in the NFL.
His ability as a receiver is exceptional also though.
For his longest reception against the Seahawks, the Browns used misdirection before tossing the ball to him on a screen pass. One of the Seahawks defensive tackles read the play and showed off great effort to chase the play downfield. If he hadn't done that, Johnson would have had an opportunity to go much further than he did.
What stood out from this play was how quickly Johnson accelerated and then bended past the first tackler. He left his feet, but did so while contorting his body slightly so that he could evade the tackle without slowing down. After that, he bouned off of the second tackler. Because of the way he bounced off the second tackler, he didn't have an opportunity to escape the recovering defensive tackle.
Screen plays are valuable for any back, but Johnson isn't reliant on them to create yards in the passing game.
Johnson can line up anywhere on the field and run a variety of routes to get open. On this play, he initially lines up in the backfield behind Johnny Manziel. He motions into the right slot where the Baltimore Ravens leave him in one-on-one coverage with a cornerback. Johnson's feet are fast enough and his timing is precise enough that he can easily skip away from the cornerback to create separation on his slant route.
Once he has caught the ball, he has a first down, but he is able to extend the play further by making the deep safety miss with his footwork.
Against the Arizona Cardinals, Johnson made almost the exact same play when he motioned into the slot and ran the same route. However, on this occasion, he was able to make three defenders miss to extend the play further downfield. Johnson's elusiveness and quickness on his feet while sustaining his speed is very impressive. He doesn't need to slow down to enter breaks and he is aware of how defenders react to his actions.
He isn't like Darren Sproles because he's not as thick as Sproles and he's a better overall runner, but he does have the potential to have the same kind of impact in the passing game.
At 22 years of age, Johnson has a long NFL career ahead of him. He's a relatively young 22 also because he won't turn 23 until during next season. Johnson has clearly not been used enough this season, but that could help him in the long run. Had the Browns rushed him into a featured role this season he could have suffered after missing preseason. Instead, Johnson will enter his second season with experience but without much punishment on his body.
The Browns offense may always limit the production of its skill position players if they continue to have question marks at the quarterback position, but Johnson isn't the type of player who needs high-quality quarterback play to be consistently productive. He can take short passes for big gains and he can create enough separation to give his quarterbacks wide throwing windows.
It's hard to be too optimistic about the 2015 class of running backs at this stage. There are a handful of players who have shown promise as rookies and while he may not be the obvious one, Johnson is definitely one of the few in that group.
