Just days before the season opener, the Cleveland Browns still haven’t signed rookie running back Quinshon Judkins, and optimism about him being ready for Week 1 — or anytime soon — is fading fast.
Cleveland drafted Judkins with the No. 36 overall pick to be its feature back, but his situation has grown unusually tangled. The 21-year-old was arrested July 12 on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge involving his girlfriend. Prosecutors later declined to pursue charges, but at the time of his arrest, Judkins was already holding out in pursuit of a fully guaranteed deal, following the precedent set by other early second-round selections.
Although he’s been cleared legally, questions remain about what’s holding up a resolution and whether the NFL will hand down discipline under its personal conduct policy.
“I don’t know if it’s today, tomorrow, or next week. I did get the sense there was some hope movement would happen sometime this week, with the season starting,” Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot said recently on The Ken Carman Show. “I don’t know what the holdup is. I think there are a lot of moving parts — the team, the agent, the player, the league, the NFLPA.”
NFL Still Investigating Browns RB Quinshon Judkins
The sticking point appears to be how potential league discipline could impact Judkins’ contractual guarantees.
“There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we don’t really know about, and sometimes these things take time,” Cabot said. “The NFL is still investigating under its personal conduct policy. I think it’s more that than anything — the league trying to determine if he should be suspended or disciplined. It’s all tied together.”
The Browns have remained tight-lipped on Judkins’ situation, declining to provide any substantial update.
“I can’t get into that,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said this week. “Hard to speculate.”
Browns Still Confident in Ground Game
With Nick Chubb now in Houston and Judkins out of the picture, the Browns will be relying on veteran Jerome Ford, rookie Dylan Sampson and undrafted rookie Raheim Sanders to carry the load.
Despite the issues with Judkins, the Browns are committed to the run game. The offensive scheme is expected to return to a foundation of a wide-zone run scheme and play-action passing, with Stefanski taking over play-calling duties once again.
“Going back to when we added coach Bloomgren with Tommy Rees, really making sure we’re a sound run game,” Stefanski said this week. “When you talk about the run game it’s easy to say the running backs and the offensive line, but it does take everybody. We need wide receivers who can block, we need quarterbacks who can get you in and out of the right plays. I think the guys have put in a ton of work into the run game, and I know those guys are excited about some of the things we’re doing. But you have to go do it in the games.”
The Browns kick off their season on Sunday at home against the Cincinnati Bengals as a 5.5-point underdog.
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