Browns select Utah pass rusher Nate Orchard with No. 51 pick
May 1, 2015Browns trade up to select Washington State DT Xavier Cooper at No. 96
May 1, 2015The Cleveland Browns selected University of Miami running back Duke Johnson with the No. 77 pick in the NFL Draft’s third round on Friday night. FOX Sports Ohio’s Zac Jackson was again the first to report the news on Twitter well before the selection.
The electric 5-foot-9 Johnson, who left after his junior season, was the star of the Hurricanes offense this past season. He had 2,073 yards from scrimmage and 13 total touchdowns, smashing several Miami school records. He had 130 rushing yards in the team’s narrow loss to Florida State and had a massive 249-yard day against Virginia Tech.
Our very own Joe Gilbert had Johnson as his No. 3 running back, ahead of Nebraska’s Ameer Abdullah and Indiana’s Tevin Coleman, players taken before him on Day 2 of the draft.
From Joe in February after the Scouting Combine: “Duke Johnson of Miami ran a 4.54 second 40-yard dash. He is a quick running back who makes defenders miss in the open field.” In April, Gilbert noted he had the best agility and was the best receiver out of the RB class.
Johnson’s size makes durability a question mark, certainly. But as a change-of-pace back and a versatile receiver, he seems to be an immediately good fit alongside incumbents Isaiah Crowell and Terrence West. Obviously, many will still be beckoning for the Browns to pick up another receiver by the end of the draft. Yet Johnson still can be a huge boost to the Browns offense early on.
Browns 2015 Draft
No. 12 (Round 1) – Danny Shelton, DT, Washington
No. 19 (Round 1) – Cameron Erving, OL, Florida State
No. 51 (Round 2) – Nate Orchard, DE/LB, Utah
No. 77 (Round 3) – Duke Johnson, RB, Miami (FL)
No. 96 (Round 3) – Xavier Cooper, DT, Washington State
No. 115 (Round 4) – Ibraheim Campbell, S, Northwestern
No. 123 (Round 4) – Vince Mayle, WR, Washington State
No. 189 (Round 6) – Charles Gaines, CB, Louisville
No. 195 (Round 6) – Malcolm Johnson, TE, Mississippi State
No. 198 (Round 6) – Randall Telfer, TE, USC
15 Comments
Interesting.
Sigh, I love Johnson…good character guy, great RB…but we just don’t need him.
Trade West…
LoL I see Duke as a third down back, out of the backfield for the pass and most importantly possibly returning kicks.
You can never have enough RBs.
*pricks up ears*…return kicks, did you say return kicks? 😀
Another RB to keep the RB core of Crowell and West rest, insurance just in case one of them goes down, and I thought I heard he ran under the same system that Flip wants to run, and he can catch? Why not?
Dude pops
Kick returns? Good point. If he could return punts (instead of just fair-catching them) he could really add to his value. Does he have that skill set?
Are we ever gonna see what Glenn Winston can do? (6-2, 220)
I dislike this pick. Yeah, the Duke Johnson highlight reel is pretty. But the full game tape shows this guy who isn’t strong enough to break contact losing yards on a lot of carries. Of course that kills drives. The best comp I see here is Dexter McCluster, and I don’t think that role warrants a third-round pick.
Yeah Lunch, let’s just focus on ONE of those three hitting 1000 yards
Besides owning almost every U rushing record he was also on their track team so I believe he has the skill set should he be given that role. He did return kickoffs for them at one point I don’t think he did at the end of his career because he was needed in the backfield but at some point he did return kicks.
Why?
Because neither West or Crowell broke 700 yards last year, and you’re asking for a combined 3000+ yards from them and a scatback rookie. I would love to see it happen, but let’s be realistic.
He fits in well with the group. Fast, good pass-catcher that can still run when needed. It’ll be interesting to see how well he picks up blitzers, if he can do that in the NFL, he’ll have a decent career at least.