The team that played last season with five quarterbacks will have to implore the next man up mentality at the running back position.
The Cleveland Browns are expected to keep All-Pro running back Nick Chubb out of commission and on the physically unable to perform list, (PUP), to begin the 2024 season, according to ESPN senior NFL insider Adam Schefter.
Chubb will miss at least the first four games of the season and will be sidelined until he is eligible and cleared to make his much-anticipated return. The 28-year-old was initially placed on the list to begin training camp on July 24.
He is still recovering from a season-ending knee injury that occurred in Week 2 of the 2023 season against their arch rival in the AFC North, Pittsburgh Steelers.
Chubb suffered severe damage to his ACL, MCL, medial capsule and meniscus in his left knee that required multiple surgeries. He underwent the first procedure to repair his medial capsule, meniscus and MCL in late September. The second surgery occurred in November, repairing damage to his ACL.
Although they are not happy that he is now expected to miss the first four weeks of the regular season, the Browns’ coaching staff and front office are optimistic and have been impressed on how he has attacked his recovery throughout the offseason.
Embed from Getty Images“I’d say Nick is progressing exactly where he should be,” head coach Kevin Stefanski, who was the 2023 Coach of the Year, said on July 26, according Zac Jackson of The Athletic. “You know Nick. I know Nick. I mean, he’s pushing it. He’s doing everything that [the team’s medical staff is] asking him to do, and as much as he can do more than that, within reason, within what the medical side wants him to do.”
Chubb does not have a hard and fast timetable for his return, as Browns general manager Andrew Barry said that the organization will deal with his timeline “day by day” on July 29, according to ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi.
With the four-time Pro Bowl running back on ice for the start of the season, Cleveland will be depending on Jerome Ford to be their bell cow and earn the lions’ share of the team’s carries after he recorded 813 yards in 2023.
Chubb has established himself as one of the NFL’s most dangerous and dynamic running backs when healthy, accumulating at least 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns in each of the four seasons prior to his injury-shortened 2023 campaign.
The Browns will need to win ugly and survive without Chubb to begin the year as they attempt to earn consecutive playoff berths for the first time since 1989.
