Nick Chubb has been the face of the gritty Cleveland offense ever since the days of Baker Mayfield. With Chubb and his high octane ability serving them in the backfield, the Browns were comfortably including play-action plays in their schemes. This added support to the pass-play only elevated their standings in the top rushing franchises of the league. Until last year’s tragic week 2 injury to Chubb, the Browns had been a top 10 rushing team in the league since 2019.
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But after a whole season of sitting out at age 28, Nick Chubb’s future in the league remained in jeopardy. Although now, according to Ian Rapoport and Tom Peliserro the running back will be staying in Cleveland after all. Even though a lot of Cleveland fans find it far from “fair” but the uncertainty around his recovery has led to Chubb and Browns renegotiating this year’s contract. The second round pick from 2018 will take a $4 million lesser base pay, bringing down his cap hit from around $15.8 million to $11.7 million.
Interestingly, they have given Chubb the option to win back his salary through incentives. But it is notable that they have also added 2 other running backs in the off season, Nyheim Hines and D’Onta Foreman. So they are securing their bets all around by giving Chubb another shot but also making sure they have enough ammo in the arsenal if the popular Browns RB does not work out in 2024-25.
Nick Chubb Injury Update
Like most 28 year old running backs in the league, Chubb also has a long history of injuries. The most recent and gruesome one coming in week 2 of last season when Chubb injured his ACL during a play against the Steelers. It was season ending and whatever hope was left from the Browns’ season came crashing down in Week 2 itself.
On November 14, last year, Chubb went into surgery and successfully got his ACL repaired the second time. Ever since then the negotiations between the Browns front office and the Georgia alum have been ongoing. Obviously, with his extensive record and popularity amongst the Browns community lend Chubb negotiating power which comes very rarely for running backs in this day and age.
But Nick Chubb has proven time and again that he is the main horse carrying the offense cart for the Browns. And last year, without him, the NFL world saw Cleveland struggling in the backfield and thus struggling as an offense overall.
