CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Hue Jackson was debating between soup and a sandwich for lunch on Friday when Browns general manager John Dorsey traded his turkey club to Seattle for a conditional pick.

Soup it is.

Have two playmakers in a sputtering offense that haven't seen the field nearly enough? Carlos Hyde is gone, traded to Jacksonville on Friday for a fifth-round pick.

Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson it is.

After weeks of Jackson saying Chubb should play more and Johnson should get the ball more, as if their usage was determined by a Great God of Football rather than, you know, the head coach, Dorsey took the option away Friday.

Once again, it looks like the captain of the ship is just along for the ride.

Jackson made his quarterback switch in Week 3 only after Tyrod Taylor ducked into the blue injury tent and out of the Browns' quarterback picture. Baker Mayfield, in relief, led the Browns to their first win in 19 games and Jackson admitted leaving the most important decision of his coaching tenure in Cleveland to fate.

"I just think that everything was going to work itself out however it was going to work itself out," Jackson said after the Mayfield-Taylor switch.

This time, fate wore a Browns sweatshirt. Dorsey made the call, because once again, Jackson wouldn't make a switch that was staring him in the face.

Hyde ranks third in the NFL in carries, with 114, and 44th in yards per carry, at 3.35, among backs with at least 100 rushing yards.

Utilized, but inefficient.

Meanwhile, Chubb, with 16 carries, and Johnson, with 19 carries and 14 receptions, were watching and wasted. Anyone who saw the offense struggle on a rough day against the Chargers last week knew that. The Browns are lacking playmakers, much of it through bad luck and circumstance. But to not use Chubb and Johnson in that reality, that's just dereliction of duty.

So ... traded.

Not sure how to handle the up-and-down unreliable talent of Josh Gordon?

Traded.

Corey Coleman complaining?

Traded.

Spend too much time on your screens instead of doing your chores, young man?

Your iPhone has been traded.

The choice by Jackson and Todd Haley to lean on Hyde rather than work all three tailbacks into the rotation wasn't even self-serving. Less Hyde makes the Browns better.

Giving Hyde 77 percent of the tailback carries so far wasn't the best way to win, not when Chubb (and his limited 10.8 yard average) was just waiting for more. Sure, maybe Chubb needed work in pass protection. But running backs taken at No. 35 early in the second round typically are more than sideline mannequins. Ten rookie running backs have more carries this season than Chubb.

Jackson is intent on playing veterans this year, clearly interested in maximizing every potential win on a team that still is about the future, even if the future is much closer. When I wrote earlier this season that Jackson would take a team full of Tyrod Taylors if he could, that was true then and is true now.

Remember, he wanted veteran quarterback AJ McCarron at a steep trade price last year.

Jackson is all about now, maybe because he thinks he owes it to the locker room, maybe because he thinks it's his best chance to keep his job.

Dorsey indicated before the season that he thinks the Browns are still rebuilding. Jackson after the second win of the season was threatening bandwagon jumpers as if he was prepping for a playoff run.

When you trade the league's third-most used running back six games in, there's some kind of disconnect there. Some divergent plans. Some message.

For some reason, I'm waiting for Jackson to blame Sashi Brown.

This is the right move for the Browns, but it also would have been the right move to do more with Johnson and Chubb in the first six weeks.

Of course, Dorsey signed Hyde, so he owns this, and perhaps this was an elaborate ruse to hoodwink the Jaguars out of a pick in the 150s. Sign Hyde, showcase his 3.3 yard average in a do-better season, execute trade.

OK, that's unlikely.

So here's what is likely.

Playing Chubb and Johnson more was the right thing for the future -- and the present -- of the Browns, yet it hasn't happened. As I've said all along, don't send in your playoff ticket down payment yet. This season is simultaneously about competing and building, because a playoff chase in 2019 should be expected.

You don't get there playing a team full of Tyrods, which is what Jackson wanted.

There may be more bumps, just as there have been with rookie receiver Antonio Callaway. But Dorsey knows what he wants from this roster and this team.

No matter what, Jackson doesn't get to make any excuses about it. Every team has holes, and you make the best of it. There are holes at receiver, yes. Maybe Jackson sees a hole at running back now.

But more Chubb and Johnson made sense, and if Jackson wouldn't make it happen, then Dorsey did.

Jackson should take note. And he should watch out for his soup.