Nick Chubb expected to start Cleveland Browns season on PUP list as knee rehab continues

The question of where Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb will start the season has an answer.

A league source confirmed for the Beacon Journal that Chubb will open the season by remaining on the active/physically unable to perform list as he continues to recover from the devastating knee injury he sustained last Sept. 18 in Pittsburgh.

ESPN's Adam Schefter was the first to report.

Under NFL rules, he's required to be out the first four games of the regular season. The earliest Chubb could potentially return to the field would be in Week 5, when the Browns travel to face the Washington Commanders.

"I get to see him every day, so he’s working very, very hard," Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said on a Zoom call Monday. "The outlook for him is a day-by-day type of thing, and that’s kind of how Nick operates, how I operate. So, I’ll tell you today, I’m watching him, he’s working hard, he’ll continue to do that.

"He’s a huge part of everything we’re doing, he’s in every meeting. So, no update other than to say, as you guys know, he’s working very hard.”

The move wasn't an unexpected one, as Chubb had spent the entire training camp on that same list. He has been seen on multiple occasions going through an exhaustive on-field rehab program, but had not been cleared to return to full football activities.

Chubb had his first surgery on Sept. 29 to repair damage to the medial collateral ligament (MCL), the medial capsule and meniscus, all which had also been repaired while he was at Georgia. The second surgery on Nov. 14 repaired a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), which he hadn't damaged in 2015.

“I would say it does help just knowing how to attack it mentally and knowing I might not be at a certain point through the rehab process that I want to be," Chubb said on June 5. "But I know just taking it day by day and the weeks add up and the months add up and eventually I'll get to where I want to be.”

The injury at Georgia still didn't cost Chubb any games in either the 2016 or 2017 seasons. He didn't set any kind of timetable for a return from this injury when he spoke in June, although he did say "We'll see" when asked if he could see himself back in time for the Sept. 8 season opener against the Dallas Cowboys.

Chubb didn't start load running as part of the rehab process until April. During the offseason, multiple videos have come out on social media of him working out at his high school alma mater in Cedartown, Ga., with almost no evidence of the injury, including one on July 15 that showed him doing two squat reps with 540 pounds .

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Nick Chubb expected to start Cleveland Browns season on PUP list as knee rehab continues