The Cleveland Browns played most of last season with the heart and soul of their offense last year, RB Nick Chubb, after a tackle by Pittsburgh Steelers S Minkah Fitzpatrick resulted in a knee tear that required multiple surgeries to resolve.
Immediately following the injury, a debate ensued over whether Fitzpatrick used a dirty tactic to injure him. Notably, few who actually played the game actually spoke against it, at least to the extent of calling it dirty. Former Steelers DL Chris Hoke said it was a bad football play, but not dirty.
Yet Browns defenders then and now still agree that Fitzpatrick wasn’t in the wrong. At the time, S Grant Delpit called it “just a crazy football play”. More recently, another safety, D’Anthony Bell, shared a similar opinion on the My Dawgs podcast.
“I don’t think it was a dirty hit, man. I don’t think he intentionally tried to do that”, he said. “A lot of people are fans. They’ve never been in a position where you are in full pads trying to tackle Nick Chubb, man”. He suggested that fans put him in a defender’s shoes seeing himself one-on-one with Chubb, an All-Pro running back.
Chubb, by the way, is not exactly a small man, and he is very good at his job. In his first five seasons, he rushed for 6,341 yards with 48 touchdowns, and another 990 receiving yards. His combination of speed and power land him squarely in the elite category, which is why the Browns need him.
They worked with Chubb’s contract in order to turn his 2024 salary into largely a performance-based deal, reports indicated yesterday. He can earn up to $12.2 million if he reaches performance levels that he previously hit before his injury. Frankly, it will be interesting to see the exact details of those incentives.
It’s unclear precisely when Chubb will return to the field, though the beginning of the 2024 season is not unreasonable. While the Browns’ ground game did not fall off a cliff without him, it certainly fell from the elite. But who knows if he’ll look elite coming off of that injury—which is, of course, why the Browns reworked his deal.
As for Fitzpatrick, he also happens to be coming off the worst season of his career, and largely also due to injuries. Unlike Chubb, however, Fitzpatrick experienced a series of relatively minor injuries throughout the year. It all led to his first season without an interception since entering the league in 2018.
Almost any time one player causes injury to another player, it seems to stir up an ethical debate. Sometimes it goes so far as to lead to rule changes, as with the ban of the “swivel” hip-drop tackle this offseason. Of course, this is far from the first tactic the NFL has banned throughout its long history. But I can’t see any grounds for ever banning the tackle that Fitzpatrick used on Chubb that led to his severe injury. You simply cannot account for every variable to ensure safety in a fast and violent game.
