The last two Cleveland Browns seasons have been very subpar for their running back room. The team has been at the bottom of several NFL running back statistics. Before these last two seasons, they had been one of the best departments, but with Nick Chubb running into injury troubles things have gone south. The team needs to build back and strengthen this part of their team during this offseason.

The free agency market opens in the next few weeks, followed by the NFL Draft, and the Browns will be looking at running backs in both of these places.

According to many who are analyzing this year’s draft prospects this draft is stacked with strong runners. It’s just what the doctor ordered for the Browns. In this series, we will look at several running backs that could help the Browns get back to being one of the better running games in the league.

I’ve already mentioned two running in previous mock drafts including DJ Giddens of Kansas State and Omarion Hampton of North Carolina so we won’t mention them in this series. But still, there are many other possibilities for the team.

Running Back: Kaleb Johnson, Iowa

The Ohio native who played high school football at Hamilton High School outside of Cincinnati played three seasons at Iowa. After being heavily recruited out of high school he originally chose to play for the California Golden Bears but then changed his mind and switched to play for the Hawkeyes. At Iowa, he had two decent years and then had a breakout year this season where he ran for over 1,500 yards and scored 21 touchdowns on the ground.

Johnson has good size for a running back at 6’1 and was efficient yards after contact where he collected over 700 yards and had a 6.4 yards per carry in his last season.

His speed and ability to break tackles and then jump into another gear make him an attractive option at running back.

He also can catch the ball coming out of the backfield well. This year he caught 22 passes for 188 yards. One of those receptions was a nifty 73-yard catch and scamper through half of the Nebraska Cornhusker defense in the last game of his season.

Johnson’s breakaway speed is noticeable when you watch the film on him. When he’s gotten to the second and third levels of the defense he’s been able to take the right path and scamper ahead of his opponents.

Johnson could be drafted as early as the first round but could drop depending on how the rest of the draft plays out. This year’s talented running back class has made predicting where each will land difficult to figure out.