Cleveland Browns Are Prepared To Lose Their Chubb

Rarely have the Cleveland Browns given their fans anything to get excited about. And that likely won’t change this fall after the team’s GM announced on Friday that the Orange and Brown are likely to lose their Chubb. As in, Nick Chubb, the franchise’s best running back not named Jim Brown.

General Manager Andrew Berry, commenting on the possibility of Chubb, a free agent, returning to Cleveland next season, told Cleveland radio station 92.3 The Fan: "I wouldn't rule anything out, but I would say that it's probably increasingly unlikely."

So too is a Browns winning season, but that’s neither here nor there.

The odds are clearly stacked against Chubb, who has had himself a rough couple of years. First, he tore about a billion ligaments in a September 2023 game against the Steelers. After missing the first six weeks of last season’s Deshaun Watson-led dumpster fire while recovering from injury, Chubb returned to post career lows in just about every statistical category.

PITTSBURGH - Nick Chubb of the Cleveland Browns is carted off the field after sustaining a knee injury during the second quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on September 18. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

Having succumbed to the inevitable curse of being a Brown, things got worse from there for the running back. He broke his foot in Week 15 while playing behind a patchwork offensive line for a team that would finish the season 3-14.

Dammit Chubb, say Mercy already, will ya?

Despite the annual tradition of social media sharing videos of Chubb squatting the weight of a small house while in his school gym, indicating a near-full recovery, Cleveland drafted two running backs (Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson) in the first four rounds of last month’s NFL Draft.

Even Berry realizes this won't be an easy task for the rookie replacements. This Chubb's hard to beat. 

"You're never going to rule out someone as near and dear to our heart as Nick, and I would expect him to take another step being a year removed from the knee injury," Berry said Friday. But I'd say a return is less likely, at least in the short term, with us right now."

Assuming the Browns do stiff Chubb, 29, he’ll exit Cleveland with the third-most rushing yards (6,843) and rushing touchdowns (51) in franchise history. 

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