The Cleveland Browns allowed RB Nick Chubb to hit free agency, and he is defiant amidst the deafening silence. To date, there has been no team expressing much interest in him, including the Browns. Given his recent injury history, the skepticism is understandable, yet disheartening. One of the truly great “football players” and simply people in football, he is a victim of his own body. But he is fighting tooth and nail against it—and against the idea of his demise.
Continuing to face lack of interest with the draft approaching, Chubb took to social media. On Instagram, he wrote, “They’ve already wrote my ending when I’m just getting started”. The message pairs with four images, including one video. In the video, he appears to be squatting more than 600 pounds. The final image is of Batman overlooking the city of Gotham, because reasons.
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Nick Chubb suffered a severe, career-altering knee injury against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2023. In Week 2, he took a hit from S Minkah Fitzpatrick that resulted in significant tears and extensive rehabilitation to follow. Not only did he miss the rest of the season, he didn’t play until Week 7 in 2024.
Unfortunately, one has to acknowledge that he did not look like the same Nick Chubb. In eight games, he rushed for just 332 yards on 102 carries, averaging 3.3 yards per rush. He scored three times, having previously never scored fewer than eight rushing touchdowns in a season.
Over his first five seasons, Nick Chubb was arguably the best rusher in the NFL. In that time, he rushed for 6,341 yards on 1,210 attempts at 5.2 yards per carry with 48 touchdowns. He made the Pro Bowl four years in a row, and only seemed to be getting better and better.
But it’s entirely fair for teams to question if Chubb can still be an asset to them. He posted a career-worst 41.2-percent run success rate last year, well below his career average nearer to 50 percent. You can cite all the stats, but you can also just see him run, and he lacked the same explosiveness and decisiveness.
Perhaps after a season of getting his feet back under him, Chubb could rediscover some of his magic. But teams are not going to pay a premium to find out. And any team guarding potential compensatory earnings is going to wait until after the draft, too. Soon after, the compensatory window closes, and free agents can sign without affecting the formula.
Somebody at some point will sign Nick Chubb, even if he may not find a very lucrative offer. Could the Steelers show interest? Some beat writers say yes, while others say no—so basically, nobody has any idea, as usual.
