Pat McManamon, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Browns believe there'll be enough touches for crowded backfield

BEREA, Ohio – The Cleveland Browns have three running backs and one ball, but nobody with the team thinks that will be a problem in 2018.

“I’m not worried about footballs,” offensive coordinator Todd Haley said Thursday.

Because the Browns feel that their three-headed hydra composed of Carlos Hyde, second-round pick Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson Jr. brings skills the team will need.

“We feel like that’s a position of strength,” running backs coach Freddie Kitchens said. “Coach [Bill] Parcells taught me a long time ago, don’t ever turn a position of strength into a weakness.”

Things are a little murkier than a year ago, though, when it was clear that Isaiah Crowell would start and Johnson would be the change-of-pace back.

In the offseason, the Browns signed Hyde as a free agent, indicating he would take Crowell’s role. But then in the draft, John Dorsey took a running back higher than he had before at Kansas City when he made Chubb the 35th pick.

Johnson then signed a contract extension.

One view says three's a crowd, but for the Browns, three's company. The question of how they will share time has yet to shake itself out, though Johnson’s role probably will be similar to what it was in 2017, when he caught a career-high 74 passes, ran 82 times, scored seven touchdowns and had a career-high 1,041 all-purpose yards.

“Luckily, Duke can probably do some things that the other two can’t do,” Kitchens said. “He can probably do those things more efficiently with more success. Ultimately all three of those guys can run our running game, and Duke can do a few more things in the passing game.”

Johnson will get his touches and catches, and he will get them at different spots in the formation. Coach Hue Jackson and Haley both seem to enjoy Johnson’s potential.

"I think he relishes that opportunity to be all over the field and create mismatches,” Jackson said.

Which means the question comes down to who gets the bulk of the “regular” carries, Hyde or Chubb. The easy answer would be to point to the draft pick, until Hyde practiced.

In the offseason, Hyde showed surprisingly quick feet, good vision and an ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. He looked like a guy who had the benefit of experience.

“Carlos ran a ball [Wednesday], it looked like a guy in Pittsburgh the way he hesitated and hit the hole,” Kitchens said, comparing Hyde on that run to the Steelers’ Le'Veon Bell.

In four seasons with the 49ers, Hyde ran for 2,729 yards, with 988 and 938 the past two seasons. More importantly, he scored 21 touchdowns. In OTAs, he was with the first unit more often than not. With the 49ers, he was well known for being able to get tough yards, something the Browns felt Crowell did not do enough.

“You can’t see it in the spring, because we’re not in pads, but you can turn on the film and see,” quarterback Tyrod Taylor said. “Carlos is a bruiser once the pads come on.”

Chubb has earned nothing but praise, and even in the spring without pads his ability to cut, read the hole and explode through it is noticeable. Kitchens called it running violently.

“He’ll take a handoff and the handoff is violent,” Kitchens said.

Which means ...

“Once he gets the ball in his hands, you know he’s ready to do something with the ball,” Kitchens said. “Some guys are looking around, something like that. He’s going to force the action. Not that he doesn’t have patience. It’s another realm that I’m talking about here. Everything he does is with the intent to be physical.”

At Georgia, Chubb came back from a serious knee injury and finished with 4,769 yards and 44 touchdowns.

Who will get the carries when Johnson is not on the field? Fans and especially fantasy footballers may have to wait to know.

“Yet to be determined would be the best answer,” Haley said.

“As far as divvying up the carries, we’re nowhere close right now,” Kitchens said.

Neither was dodging the question. It is June, and these kinds of situations usually shake out in training camp. Also, as good as Chubb looked, he has yet to show mastery of one important requirement of NFL backs: pass protection, which Kitchens said will be “huge.”

Kitchens also said he believes in the hot hand, so if one back or the other is running well in a game, the Browns may keep running him.

“It might be somebody different week to week,” Kitchens said.

The one thing that Kitchens was clear on: Hyde has shown no second-guessing or sour feelings about the drafting of Chubb. Kitchens said he has heard “nothing at all” from Hyde about Chubb’s selection.

“We don’t have anybody in the running back room that’s going to back away from any competition at all,” Kitchens said. “And I think that’s a good scenario to have.”

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