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Cleveland Browns insider shares how many games Nick Chubb might miss in 2024
By Matt Johnson,
17 hours ago
The Cleveland Browns survived a devastating Nick Chubb injury in 2023, losing their All-Pro running back early in the regular season. If the Browns want to return to the playoffs this winter, their offense will need to deliver again without arguably its best player.
Chubb, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, suffered an ACL tear and damage to his MCL on Sept. 29 last season. It marked the second devastating season-ending injury since college, raising concerns about the 28-year-old running back’s shelf life. While Cleveland is optimistic about how he’ll look when he returns, the Browns offense will be without its workhorse for a while.
Zac Jackson of The Athletic wrote an initial Browns 53-man roster projection for 2024, which had Chubb opening the NFL season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
Nick Chubb stats ( ESPN ): 6.511 rushing yards, 5.3 yards per carry, 48 rushing touchdowns, 123 receptions, 1,011 receiving yards, 4 receiving touchdowns in 77 career games
Under NFL rules, any player who opens the season on the PUP list won’t count against the active roster for his team. However, that does require the player to automatically miss the first four games of the season.
Looking at the Browns schedule, a four-game absence for Chubb would definitively rule him out for all of September. He would first be eligible to come off the PUP list ahead of the Oct. 6 matchup against the Washington Commanders in Week 5. Although, Cleveland would have a 21-day practice window before it either needed to activate Chubb or rule him out for the remainder of the season.
Chubb is already on the PUP list, so the Browns will just need to make procedural moves before Week 1. Of note, it’s been well-reported from Browns training camp that the team has zero plans to rush Chubb back and will provide him with as much time as he needs to recover.
Nick Chubb contract ( Spotrac ): $6.275 million salary in 2024
Until Chubb returns, Jerome Ford is expected to leave the backfield in touches with Pierre Strong Jr. and D’Onta Foreman working behind him. Last season, Ford averaged 4.0 yards per carry on 204 attempts, racking up 1,132 scrimmage yards with 9 total touchdowns in 17 games.
With Ford leading the backfield, he’ll face a Browns schedule that includes matchups against three of the best defenses in football (Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders) in addition to a game against the New York Giants. Given the difficulty of the matchups, Ford will likely be a mid-tier RB2 in fantasy football for the first month of the season.
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