Browns RB coach calls out backs: 'Nobody wants the role'
After Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell split carries last season as rookies, Browns running backs coach Wilbert Montgomery was expecting both to come in hungry for a bigger share of the playing time.
What he has seen so far has not made him happy. Montgomery is not happy that his backs reported in less than "tip-top shape" and that neither West or Crowell is asserting himself as the top dog.
"How can you play and not want to be a starter?'' said Montgomery via the Northeast Ohio Media Group. "It just bothers me that guys don't want to be the lead bell-cow guy. I always talk to them about what this game gives you as a young person, what it does for them in life and to their families. So if you want to be a backup then be a backup, but I mean you're gonna get replaced. At some point you've got to be a starter if you want to hang around."
The Browns' backfield has been ravaged by injuries already in training camp, with West missing time for a strained calf, and rookie Duke Johnson out indefinitely with a hamstring injury.
"The disappointing thing was that all those guys approaching here and not being in tip-top shape,'' he said. "I think that was a total setback and now they are climbing back up hill and that's why they're taking a backseat right now.
"The guys that were here last year, you look for somebody to take that next step,'' he said. "Is it going to happen? I don't know, and that's why I let them know every day, the competition is still the same. It hasn't changed. Nobody wants the role.''
Crowell has gotten the bulk of the reps in with West and Johnson out, but Montgomery says Crowell hasn't shown enough hunger to be the bell cow. On the other hand, he praised West's and Johnson's work off the field and in the classroom, even noting that Johnson has an advantage from having played in the same system at Miami.
Montgomery stressed that it's still early and he expects someone to step up during the preseason. Johnson has already been ruled out for Thursday night's opener against Washington, leaving Crowell and West to show the fire that Montgomery is looking for.