RB Considerations... Duke Johnson & More

[mistakey]

8 hours ago, Mind Character said:

Carlos Hyde was beloved in the locker room as new culture leader committed to all things football all day all the time.

He fought for every yard (he got that 1st down in Oakland dammit) and played through injuries and the pending birth of his child.

We thanked him by shipping him to another team a month later. He and his wife returned to native Cleveland to be around family. The two decided to put down roots, buy a permanent home, and were grateful to be back around family. Then, he gets a call that says "now time to move to another state." Duke watched that happen ... all the players watched it happened. The reaction was that it is a cut throat business.

This is a business. When teams get rid of players fans don't give a f*ck. They may say something for a brief moment, but no one questions the teams right to do what it did. When a player decides to take his life/career into his own hands and demand a trade after being shopped on the trading block and being said to "not be expendable yet" everyone is pissed at that player and thinks the player is  a whiny b#tch ..

What a time to be alive...

nick chubb makes less (significantly less than duke johnson)
nick chubb didnt complain when he was 3rd on the depth chart
nick chubb didnt make a situation out of his position on the roster when kareem hunt was signed
nick chubb didnt ask for a trade

[NateDawg]

I understand both sides in this. Money and roster security isn’t everything. When Duke signed, he committed his best remaining years to being in Cleveland. When his role was diminished, he didn’t want his remaining productive years to go to waste. That’s the nature of things though. You get a paycheck to be in the top 1% and are under contract to do your job. There are a lot of people that would love to be in his line of work. If you are concerned about long-term desire to be somewhere, sign 1-year deals. You can’t have all reward without the risk. At this point, in his role, he has no leverage. His best play is to be a good teammate at this point and to play well when he gets opportunities. 

[MWil23]

TBH, I don't fault either side here.

Duke has asked to be traded, but he at least reported to mandatory camp. Good on him for being a professional.

The Browns probably won't get the value back that they want for him. Good on them for keeping him as an insurance policy for Chubb until Hunt is back. 

The fact is, when we signed Landry, let alone with OBJ and Hunt, not to mention having Callaway/Higgins on the outside (forcing Landry to the slot, unless Njoku is there), Duke's value as a pass catcher with that full squad is VERY minimal. 

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

9 hours ago, Mind Character said:

Carlos Hyde was beloved in the locker room as new culture leader committed to all things football all day all the time.

He fought for every yard (he got that 1st down in Oakland dammit) and played through injuries and the pending birth of his child.

We thanked him by shipping him to another team a month later. He and his wife returned to native Cleveland to be around family. The two decided to put down roots, buy a permanent home, and were grateful to be back around family. Then, he gets a call that says "now time to move to another state." Duke watched that happen ... all the players watched it happened. The reaction was that it is a cut throat business.

This is a business. When teams get rid of players fans don't give a f*ck. They may say something for a brief moment, but no one questions the teams right to do what it did. When a player decides to take his life/career into his own hands and demand a trade after being shopped on the trading block and being said to "not be expendable yet" everyone is pissed at that player and thinks the player is  a whiny b#tch ..

What a time to be alive...

When someone says things are “beyond repair” because of off season rumors and potential trade discussions, yes, you’re being a whiny b*tch.

Duke needs to get the hell up out of feelings and do the job he’s being paid well to do. He’s the 21st highest paid back in the league this year, and he makes more than Hunt and Chubb combined despite being CLEARLY the least talented player in the position group.

Since you like things in the perspective of the common man, allow me give it a whirl.  Duke isn’t a fella who is being disrespected by his employer, he’s a guy who gets to work at one of the better employers in his field (facilities, support staff, 2019 W/L prospects, etc), in a location he chose just last year, and who is not only NOT underpaying him or OVERworking him, but rather essentially paying him overtime pay to come in and watch his coworkers do most of the work.

Save your tears for someone more deserving, Duke’s just fine regardless as to how much he wants to take his ball and go home.

[Tomahawk]

10 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

Duke needs to get the hell up out of feelings and do the job he’s being paid well to do. 

 

This.  He needs to stfu, and let his agent to that work.  Show up, and be a good team player while the business people handle that business.  

[BleedTheClock]

9 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

When someone says things are “beyond repair” because of off season rumors and potential trade discussions, yes, you’re being a whiny b*tch.

Duke needs to get the hell up out of feelings and do the job he’s being paid well to do. He’s the 21st highest paid back in the league this year, and he makes more than Hunt and Chubb combined despite being CLEARLY the least talented player in the position group.

Since you like things in the perspective of the common man, allow me give it a whirl.  Duke isn’t a fella who is being disrespected by his employer, he’s a guy who gets to work at one of the better employers in his field (facilities, support staff, 2019 W/L prospects, etc), in a location he chose just last year, and who is not only NOT underpaying him or OVERworking him, but rather essentially paying him overtime pay to come in and watch his coworkers do most of the work.

Save your tears for someone more deserving, Duke’s just fine regardless as to how much he wants to take his ball and go home.

I don't blame Duke for wanting to play elsewhere. He's a competitor. I'd be salty if I was in a spot where I was going to be expendable and never get to see the field. I don't care how much he's making...he is likely going to be rotting away and getting 3-4 touches at most when Hunt gets back. I can see why he wants to go somewhere else.

That being said, I would keep him unless someone offers something more valuable if he had some great preseason games. Don't just jettison him because he wants to be traded.

[Rod Johnson]

31 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

When someone says things are “beyond repair” because of off season rumors and potential trade discussions, yes, you’re being a whiny b*tch.

Duke needs to get the hell up out of feelings and do the job he’s being paid well to do. He’s the 21st highest paid back in the league this year, and he makes more than Hunt and Chubb combined despite being CLEARLY the least talented player in the position group.

Since you like things in the perspective of the common man, allow me give it a whirl.  Duke isn’t a fella who is being disrespected by his employer, he’s a guy who gets to work at one of the better employers in his field (facilities, support staff, 2019 W/L prospects, etc), in a location he chose just last year, and who is not only NOT underpaying him or OVERworking him, but rather essentially paying him overtime pay to come in and watch his coworkers do most of the work.

Save your tears for someone more deserving, Duke’s just fine regardless as to how much he wants to take his ball and go home.

I agree with you just with a less prejudice because Dorsey did disrespect him when he said "not expendable yet".  In my mind that's where the unprofessionalism began, and a total gaffe.  Duke is right to feel he is unwanted since his GM publically made it sound like the plan was to get rid of him.

But Duke needs to zip his lips.  No benefit for anybody in having public discord.  We gotta be considering releasing Duke and eating the money, and Dorsey has nobody to blame but himself for that.

 

Edited June 5, 2019 by Rod Johnson

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

23 minutes ago, BleedTheClock said:

I don't blame Duke for wanting to play elsewhere. He's a competitor. I'd be salty if I was in a spot where I was going to be expendable and never get to see the field.

Sounds awfully contradictory.  “I’m a competitor so it bothers me when someone won’t guarantee me snaps in the off-season”.

23 minutes ago, BleedTheClock said:

I don't care how much he's making...he is likely going to be rotting away and getting 3-4 touches at most when Hunt gets back. I can see why he wants to go somewhere else.

Is he though?  He’s the backup until week 9 at a minimum.  Chubb could get hurt. Landry could get hurt and he could get snaps in the slot.  

 

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

18 minutes ago, Rod Johnson said:

I agree with you just with a less prejudice because Dorsey did disrespect him when he said "not expendable yet".  In my mind that's where the unprofessionalism began, and a total gaffe.  Duke is right to feel he is unwanted since his GM publically made it sound like the plan was to get rid of him.

Eh, it’s reading into the statement awfully hard.  I mean, he did actually state that he’s not expendable... 

I admit it probably wasn’t the best choice of words, but Dorsey by his own admission isn’t a wordsmith.

18 minutes ago, Rod Johnson said:

But Duke needs to zip his lips, and so does Baker for that matter.  No benefit for anybody in having public discord.  We gotta be considering releasing Duke and eating the money, and Dorsey has nobody to blame but himself for that.

 

9/10 I’d agree with you, but when the whole offseason MO has been team building and an us vs them mentality, it’s kinda hard to back off that now.

Fact is Baker isn’t gonna be muzzled and that’s what makes him who he is.  He’s not worried about the feelings of RB2 right now, and I can appreciate that.

 

[Rod Johnson]

14 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

Eh, it’s reading into the statement awfully hard.  I mean, he did actually state that he’s not expendable... 

I admit it probably wasn’t the best choice of words, but Dorsey by his own admission isn’t a wordsmith.

9/10 I’d agree with you, but when the whole offseason MO has been team building and an us vs them mentality, it’s kinda hard to back off that now.

Fact is Baker isn’t gonna be muzzled and that’s what makes him who he is.  He’s not worried about the feelings of RB2 right now, and I can appreciate that.

 

After posting that I watched the Baker interview and it's really not that bad.  He shouldn't answer anymore questions about it though.

Duke is definitely way too into his feelings.  I don't think that's reading too far into that statement. I think that Dorsey let his guard down and let it out we were going to trade him, but that also they didn't know how the Kareem situation was going to work out so it wasn't necessarily right now.  I don't think that's reading into that, I think it was pretty transparent.

Duke just has to focus on what's best for himself and this ain't it.  His ego is wounded.

 

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

1 minute ago, Rod Johnson said:

After posting that I watched the Baker interview and it's really not that bad.  He shouldn't answer anymore questions about it though.

Agree complete, he said what he needed to say, anything more is just fodder for best writers.

1 minute ago, Rod Johnson said:

Duke is definitely way too into his feelings.  I don't think that's reading too far into that statement. I think that Dorsey let his guard down and let it out we were going to trade him, but that also they didn't know how the Kareem situation was going to work out so it wasn't necessarily right now.  I don't think that's reading into that, I think it was pretty transparent.

Duke just has to focus on what's best for himself and this ain't it.  His ego is wounded.

 

I mean, I guess I just feel like in this business you had better assume that you’re always being shopped, evaluated, and teams are always looking for your replacement.

The fact that he took what should be an obvious and expected part of the business so personally is just odd to me. I’m not saying he should like it or not care, but to care enough to make a public stink about a casual statement in Feb just seems rather sensitive.

Either way, this needs to go away or Duke does.  He’s a nice player but not worth splitting the locker room in any way.  They don’t need the distraction.

[ReggieCamp]

16 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

Fact is Baker isn’t gonna be muzzled and that’s what makes him who he is.  He’s not worried about the feelings of RB2 right now, and I can appreciate that.

Baker has ruffled feathers and will continue to ruffle feathers.  I don't think it's him being a jack@ss as much as just being totally consumed with winning.  Dan Orlovsky worded it well right here:

 

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

Just now, ReggieCamp said:

Baker has ruffled feathers and will continue to ruffle feathers.  I don't think it's him being a jack@ss as much as just being totally consumed with winning.  Dan Orlovsky worded it well right here:

 

Precisely, and this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone by now, especially Duke.

Dude lives life with a chip on his shoulder and if you’re not helping him you’re one of those chips.

[Mind Character]

1 hour ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

When someone says things are “beyond repair” because of off season rumors and potential trade discussions, yes, you’re being a whiny b*tch.

Duke needs to get the hell up out of feelings and do the job he’s being paid well to do. He’s the 21st highest paid back in the league this year, and he makes more than Hunt and Chubb combined despite being CLEARLY the least talented player in the position group.

Since you like things in the perspective of the common man, allow me give it a whirl.  Duke isn’t a fella who is being disrespected by his employer, he’s a guy who gets to work at one of the better employers in his field (facilities, support staff, 2019 W/L prospects, etc), in a location he chose just last year, and who is not only NOT underpaying him or OVERworking him, but rather essentially paying him overtime pay to come in and watch his coworkers do most of the work.

Save your tears for someone more deserving, Duke’s just fine regardless as to how much he wants to take his ball and go home.

You lack any human perspective. My point is not about tears or a sob story. It's about the rights of players versus the organization and vice versa in the pro football business.

It's funny to hear the "he's being paid so he should shut up and take whatever his employer does" argument when that's just not how business works.

It makes no sense to complain about player agency but be quiet as a programmed sheeple when organizational execs do as they please and make decisions about the careers of other humans lives. You'd have no problem if we traded Duke a month ago... not a single issue with the John Dorsey's decision to trade Duke,  but you have an issue with Duke the player formally requesting a trade after finding out he was on the trade block.

It's clear: Duke saw what happened to Carlos Hyde. Doesn't want to wait to get traded mid-season. Felt the team violated his personal code of loyalty when he sacrificed for this organization for years and doesn't want to sacrifice for this organization anymore and would prefer to be relocated to another employer in alignment with what John Dorsey was seeking to do without Duke's approval back when he put Duke on the trading block before Duke made his trade request.

It's part of NFL Business for players to have agency now. When they exercise their right like Duke has (not going crazy  in the media like Odell), it's not because they're some adolescent b*tch.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Mind Character

[AkronsWitness]

3 hours ago, Tomahawk said:

Until Duke doesn't show up for practice, or sits out of a game, there is no story here.   Granted continuing to have this discussion in the media is going to lead to strife,  it's also going to increase the likelihood we trade him for a bag of half eaten chips just to remove the drama from the locker room.  

Well unfortunately for everyone the Browns have one of the worst local writing of any team in the NFL spearheaded by Grossi/Mary Kay. Those two just cant ever, ever, ever seem to get past the low hanging fruit and beat it into the ground day after day because they cant think of any other aspect of the Browns to take a hour or two to write an article about.

They are like kids they can only see whats directly in front of them