Cleveland Browns running back Duke Johnson is a man of many talents on the field. But one area of the game in particular catches his fancy.Johnson http://www.brownsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-larry-ogunjobi-jersey , who is entering his fourth season with the Browns, is open to the idea of catching the ball on a full-time basis, going so far as to actively lobby head coach Hue Jackson for a position change, as he told cleveland.com:Before anyone gets the idea that Johnson is unhappy with his current role, especially fresh off a contract extension in the offseason, he went on to say that he would only be bummed out if the Browns limited him to simply running the ball.That is not likely to happen, however, given how effective Johnson is in the passing game. A year ago he set a team record for running backs with 74 receptions, surpassing Greg Pruitt’s 65 receptions in 1981. Those 74 receptions were the fourth most for a running back in the NFL, and Johnson’s 693 receiving yards were third best at the position.Johnson has caught 188 passes in his three years with the Browns, placing him at No. 25 on the franchise’s all-time receptions list. Another solid season this fall and Johnson could finish the year solidly in the team’s top 20 list for career receptions.That seems very likely given that the Browns signed running back Carlos Hyde in free agency and selected running back Nick Chubb in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. They should see the bulk of the carries this season, limiting the amount of touches Johnson sees in the run game. (Another area where Johnson holds his own as he has averaged 4.2 yards per carry in his career.)No matter what position he is listed at, Johnson adds a valuable, if sometimes overlooked, presence to the passing game. Having him on the field with wide receivers Jarvis Landry and Corey Coleman, along with tight end David Njoku, provides an array of problems for opposing defenses, and a reliable target for quarterbacks Tyrod Taylor and Baker Mayfield.Trying To Make Sense Of The Browns’ OL Decisions - Ez Likes Sunday Morning 8/5/18 This last week the Cleveland Browns surprised a great many by announcing they were moving Left Guard Joel Bitonio to Left Tackle, a position which the Browns haven’t had to even think about since 2007, the year they drafted the great Joe Thomas.With the 3rd pick in that year’s draft, the Browns would solidify one of the more important positions in the game with a player who, in my humble, if estimable (and yes a little biased) opinion, will go down as the greatest ever there ever was at protecting the blind side.In about five years we’ll be celebrating his entry into the pro football hall of fame, as he will no doubt make it on his first appearance on the ballot.Two sad aspects of that tale: despite Thomas’ truly elite play from basically his first snap to his last (and the over 10,000 uninterrupted in between) it never mattered because the quarterbacks he wound up protecting were terrible-to-mediocre at best, and we mostly resided in terrible territory.The other is that his HOF career is now over as it came to an end against Tennessee last season when he collapsed onto the field at FOSFEF just moments after throwing Brian Orakpo to the ground.Thus, Joe’s time with us ended, and in the wake of that sorrow there immediately arose a need on the roster that we haven’t had in over a decade.That need initially was met by Spencer Drango, a backup guard who was promptly abused by Orakpo and probably put the finishing touches on destroying whatever confidence Cody Kessler may have somehow obtained.I’m not sure Kessler even got off a pass in any of his subsequent appearances.Although, Drango performed much better as the season progressed.Calling it “good” would certainly be a stretch, though from our perspective it’s also hard to gauge when the comparison is the GOAT.Either way, it was clear he wasn’t seen as the answer the 2017 season drew to a close and the 2018 offseason commenced.AnalyticsEven with the switch to the Football Guy, it seems we’re following a similar patternScott R. Galvin-USA TODAY SportsWhen the Browns started this process way back at the beginning of 2016, the word “analytics” was being thrown around heavily when the team hired Paul Depodesta as the new Chief Strategy Officer, pairing with now erstwhile Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown.The term itself began taking on a plethora of different meanings depending on who you talk to.Considering the way the team has come to handle roster situations over the last two years, especially with respect to the quarterback position but also other including this Left Tackle conundrum, I think a way that I personally view the approach has to do mostly with providing as many contingency plans as possible.This has mostly worked up and down the roster.The team essentially threw waves of young players, many acquired with high draft selections, at every position group in the hopes that some would hold down spots, which has happened.This offseason, the new GM John Dorseyaddressed those spots which didn’t have strong answers in the first few waves of attempts.The result overall is a good looking, if unproven, young, talented roster. However, starting Left Tackles aren’t that easy to find.In fact, there’s a paucity of quality Tackles period in the NFL, but the LT’s of course are premium positions due to the nature of their particular task.This was true even with our having more cap space and draft capital than perhaps any team entering any offseason ever.The question hovered all the way up until just before the start of the free agency period, as to whether or not Thomas would make a return or retire.When it was learned the team was heavily courting Nate Solder, who was basically the only LT available, it pretty well signaled the end.We lost out to the New York Giants on the Solder Derby, and the next highest paid LT of the 2018 Free agency class was...Donald Stephenson, signed by us.He has since retired.The highest paid Right Tackle was Chris Hubbard, also signedby us, and instantly was assumed to be the new starter on the right side.This was somewhat puzzling given the presence of Shon Coleman, 2016 3rd round pick and 2017 starter, who didn’t play especially poorly last year Jarvis Landry Jersey , albeit with more than his share of penalties.It was presumed therefore that the signing of Hubbard was a sign that the team was ready to move Coleman to LT, where he played in college.The DraftAn unlikely candidateBrian Spurlock-USA TODAY SportsWith no real opportunities to upgrade the position outside of Solder via free agency, Cleveland would do what it could do in the draft.Unfortunately, this draft class was particularly weak at the position as well.In order for us to secure the best, we would have had to spend our fourth overall on Mike McGlinchey out of Notre Dame, who ended up going to San Francisco with the ninth pick.Instead, we went with OSU cornerback Denzel Ward, widely regarded as the #1 CB in the draft.Whether Ward turns out to be the better player remains to be seen, but at first blush I’m quite happy with our decision.I agree with the consensus that Ward was the best CB, and actually the best overall player for us, at number 4.I wasn’t especially high on McGlinchey, nor Kolton Miller, the other OT taken in the top half of round one (#15 overall/Raiders).Isaiah Wynn out of UGA was taken at twenty-three by New England, and also may have been a reach.Again, time will tell, but as the first round drew to a close, the Browns went back on the clock to start day two.Perhaps like you, I was surprised at the selection of Austin Corbett, the versatile offensive lineman out of Nevada.He was viewed as a guard in the NFL, and we were set at the guard spot with highly paid players in Joel Bitonio and Kevin Zeitler.Seemed odd that we would spend the 33rd overall on a player that didn’t figure to contribute, unless they thought he could play Left Tackle, the position he played at Nevada, where he started for four years after replacing his predecessor at Left Tackle: Joel Bitonio. In fact, Bitonio and Corbett were friends who trained together prior to us drafting the latter.Considering we had all day to make this decision, I feel like the front office new exactly what it wanted to do and had zero doubts about Corbett being their guy, and it goes back to the contingency mindset.Corbett may have been widely projected as a G in the NFL, but not universally so.Some teams had him rated rather highly as a tackle, as apparently it was viewed at the time, we did: Yet when training camp arrived Corbett saw no snaps at LT, instead filling in with the 2nd team at LG.At this point people are really scratching their head at the selection of the guy with the 33rd overall if he was just going to be depth for an already really good LG in Bitonio.This seemed to be codified into preeminence with the declaration of Joe Thomas himself that Corbett wasn’t a Tackle and wasn’t going to be. While that was going on, apparently the Plan A of moving Coleman over to LT wasn’t working out.At some point we picked up the once highly drafted Greg Robinson to compete for a spot, and he seemed to have taken over the #2 spot on the depth chart behind Coleman, kind of solidifying Thomas’ projection of Corbett.With Coleman unable to garner the confidence of the coaching staff, the decision came down to go to the next option, and that’s Bitonio, who’s never played the position at the NFL level.Corbett now slides into Bitonio’s spot, which now makes sense with his selection at 33.Was this the plan all along, and if it was why not start camp with that configuration?I think the answer to the first question is: probably not.As to the second, I think they either hoped or expected that Shon Coleman would both take a developmental step forward while also stepping back to the side of the line he anchored at Auburn.If that happens, Bitonio stays at his natural spot, and Corbett becomes quality depth.Prior to any of that happening, the possibility that Corbett could himself play the position was no doubt explored extensively before being discarded, which is a determination you can only make after drafting the guy and getting him in your house.This is likely why the decision to draft him instead of say Will Hernandez (taken one pick later by the Giants) who was widely regarded as being a better prospect at the G position.In that particular comparison, I’m guessing the calculus was that whatever the dropoff (if any) in talent is overcome by just the possibility that he could have maybe gotten it done at LT, another contingency. If Bitonio can be the answer at LT, the team will be incredibly fortunate and well situated.While apparently overmatched for T, Corbett should be able to slide right in and do well at LG.Bitonio doesn’t have to be (and won’t be) a continuation of Thomas.That chapter is over - we will never see that level of excellent at the position again.However if Bitonio can be just league average, we can win with that (assuming a lot of other things fall into place).In fact his big contract extension a year ago actually works out to be about league average for OT’s.Is the situation ideal?No, but the team did everything it could to address the position with what it had to work with.There just aren’t that many good LT’s to go out and get when your HOF’er goes down.All eyes now will be on Bitonio, and if he nails it down we’ll be in pretty good shape in one of the game’s most important of position groups.If not, then next year he can slide back to G and we’ll figure out what to do with Corbett.Likely that scenario involves him supplanting J.C. Tretter, whose contract will end, and us drafting a LT with whatever our highest pick is.It’s the last contingency, and hopefully one we won’t have to exercise, both because Bitonio’s held down the role and also because our selection will be too low to focus on a single position to target.We’ll see soon enough, the start of the season is but a month out.