BEREA, Ohio -- Admittedly, it’s often our fault, the obsession with a multi-faceted back who ranks 42nd in combined yards from scrimmage over his four-year NFL career. Reporters ask about Duke Johnson a lot. Lately, it’s about whether he’ll show up. Typically, it’s about why the Browns have at times acted like he’s not there.

Sure, 102 NFL running backs, receivers and tight ends accounted for more yards from scrimmage than Johnson a year ago, but boy, if only Johnson had been given a shot, maybe he would have cracked the 80s. This time, at the end of OTAs, it wasn’t us. New running backs coach Stump Mitchell was talking about running backs he likes to have his room study, and, out of the blue, see if you catch a familiar name in this answer.

“We watch film because patience is a big key in the running game,” Mitchell said Thursday. “We watch film on Le’Veon Bell, we watch some film on David Johnson, we watch some film on Duke Johnson ...."

See that? Bell has three NFL seasons of at least 1,200 rushing yards. David Johnson rushed for more than 1,200 yards playing under Mitchell in Arizona in 2016. Duke? He has rushed for 1,286 yards total in his NFL career. His 201 rushing yards last season ranked 73rd in the league. Why Duke?

“He’s a helluva runner as well,” Mitchell said, “when you talk about patience."

“When you talk about” is the key phrase there, because with Johnson, that’s been the story of his career in Cleveland the last two seasons. It’s hard to see how that’s going to change. Our Mary Kay Cabot has reported for weeks that Johnson has asked to be traded. Freddie Kitchens expects him for mandatory camp this week.

But in the end, it’s easy to see Johnson being squeezed by the quick change of Cleveland football. He’s in line to get the short end of both sticks -- unfairly underused by the incompetence of the past, now potentially overlooked because of the talent of the present.

Mitchell was fired up about all his backs, claiming that Nick Chubb has the talent to gain 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in a season.

“He’s that good a player,” Mitchell said. “And I think the offensive system is that good.”

Only two players in NFL history have done that -- Roger Craig in 1985 and Marshall Faulk in 1999 -- but the thing that Mitchell thinks will stand in the way of Chubb is the Browns having too much talent in the backfield -- hello, Kareem Hunt.

So maybe this story actually should be about Chubb potentially posting the third-greatest multi-purpose season in NFL history. Oh well, let’s get back to why Duke doesn’t get the ball more.

“I think there may have been coordinators around here before, I don’t know, that think it’s all about the plan and maybe not so much about the player,” Mitchell said when I inquired about Johnson’s lack of usage in the pre-Stump days. “Maybe it wasn’t a good matchup in a particular week. So I can’t answer that question. All I know is that Freddie and Coach (Todd) Monken have expressed how much they want Duke to be a part of this team.

“There’s things we want to do here, and we’re still trying to do those things. But now we’re trying to do them with Dontrell, and he’s looking pretty darn good.”

That may be the perfect encapsulation of Johnson. Studied as a patience back that all the Browns can learn from, but potentially replaced by second-year player and former undrafted free agent Dontrell Hilliard, who basically took all the snaps that Johnson missed by skipping OTAs.

Odell Beckham didn’t need to be at OTAs to keep his job. The Browns don’t have another Beckham. But they might have another Johnson.

“When you don’t take part in this camp, you give someone an opportunity that may not have had the opportunity, and now that guy has to take advantage of the opportunity,” Mitchell said. “Dontrell has been doing a helluva job in taking advantage of the opportunities.”

Here’s what Johnson was denied in the past -- the chance to emerge even more on a terrible team. The leading receiver for the 0-16 Browns of 2017, he should have been handed the ball more than five times per game. But what he’s not going to do is play a major role for a team featuring Beckham and three other receiving options, two backs like Chubb and Hunt and a tight end with potential like David Njoku. We even saw it last season. When Kitchens started calling plays and revitalized the offense, Johnson’s role didn’t change. He had 45 touches with Kitchens in eight games, after 42 with Todd Haley calling the plays in the first eight games.

The Browns shouldn’t give Johnson away. Any trade should bring some sort of value. But he wants a deal because he knows the Browns have changed around him, and if he’s overlooked this season, there will be legitimate reasons for it.

One way or another, because he’s gone or because there are other offensive options to focus on, the Johnson talk in Cleveland should be winding down.

“I’ve been watching Duke since high school,” said Mitchell, who tried to recruit Johnson while the head coach at Southern University before Johnson went to Miami. “He’s elusive, he can make people miss, he can be physical if he wants to. He’s a heckuva receiver. But what he has to do is fit in the scheme in which we want him to fit in."

It’s hard to count on that happening. But it sure is interesting to talk about.

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