CLEVELAND, Ohio — Quinshon Judkins signed his rookie contract on Saturday. He could report to Berea as soon as this coming week. But his new team has one more question it needs answered, and fast.
How soon can Judkins play?
Cleveland lost 17-16 to the Bengals on Sunday at Huntington Bank Field, in large part because it couldn’t run the ball. Blame new kicker Andre Szmyt, who missed an extra point and a field goal, all you like. He should’ve made both. But the Browns run game could’ve moved him closer, or taken the game off his shaky leg altogether, if it created bigger holes or deployed better runners.
Put it this way: From where have the Browns derived their best moments under coach Kevin Stefanski? On the ground or through the uprights?
Stefanski tried to re-establish an identity on Sunday. And by tried, I mean he called 24 run plays against Cincinnati despite seeing a payoff. Those plays gained 49 yards (barely two per carry), making it clear (if it already wasn’t) that the Browns could, you know, use the production they expected from their 34th overall pick.
Judkins should help a lot, as evidenced by the 3,785 yards and 45 touchdowns he accumulated over three college seasons at Ole Miss and Ohio State. At 5-foot-11, 221 pounds, he runs with power between the tackles. He fills (or punches) the holes that teammates Dylan Sampson (5-foot-8, 200 pounds) and Jerome Ford (5-foot-10, 210 pounds) can’t. Undrafted rookie Raheim “Rocket” Sanders, claimed recently off waivers, filled in admirably on short-yardage downs Sunday, including on a 4th-and-goal touchdown run from the one-yard line.
But Sanders is no substitute for the feature back Cleveland foresaw. Judkins can’t help until the NFL clears him in the investigation of his offseason arrest. And as the Browns were reminded Sunday, this sport counts no stand-in for running the ball.
Once again, Stefanski tried. He scripted screens and swing passes. He cycled through three different running backs, plus one rookie tight end. Canton native Harold Fannin Jr., himself a top 100 pick, carried it once out of a Wildcat formation.
Some ideas worked. Sampson caught eight passes (few of which traveled far in the air) for 64 yards. Sanders filled his role. The Browns lost by one point in a game where their kicker left four on the board.
But Cleveland fans know better by now than to blame a fragile specialist for an offense’s problems. When you leave the game to your kicker, it means your offense couldn’t finish drives. When struggling to score in plus territory, it helps to run the football. And when you draft a running back on Day 2, you expect him to help you immediately.
Almost five months from Draft weekend, Cleveland waiting for its workhorse. How soon can Judkins play? I hope, for Cleveland’s sake, that the NFL clears him soon. And I hope he’s in playing shape.
Because the Bengals’ run defense, which ranked 16th in rushing yards per attempt allowed last season, showed us Sunday what life looks like without him. Cleveland plays four of last year’s top 10 run defenses over the next five weeks.
In order to move the football, Browns need their best running back. Like, now.
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