The rumored Nick Chubb return to practice is a go. The perennial Pro Bowler will work out with his Browns teammates starting today, with the club making it official.
This is a long time coming for Chubb, who underwent two knee surgeries following a severe injury sustained in Week 2 of last season. Additionally, the Browns will have Nyheim Hines and offensive lineman Michael Dunn back at practice. All three players, although they were on three different lists, each have 21-day return windows. Not being activated in that span would cause them to miss the rest of the season.
Chubb resided on Cleveland’s reserve/PUP list; he does not count against the team’s in-season activation total. By virtue of being designated for return (from the reserve/non-football injury list and reserve/non-football illness list, respectively), Hines and Dunn already count toward the Browns’ eight-activation number. Cleveland has six injury activations remaining as we hit IR- and NFI-activation season.
Although Chubb did not fully tear his ACL, he suffered other damage from the sequence in Pittsburgh. Chubb, 28, tore an MCL and sustained medial capsule and meniscus damage, leading to this year-plus return timeline. The seventh-year veteran is not expected to debut immediately, as could be expected, but the Browns having him back at practice is a good sign for his availability this season. It makes sense the Browns will want to see him ramp up once cleared to practice; the PUP-return window allows for that.
This is also a long time coming for Hines, who has been on the shelf since suffering a torn ACL from a freak jet ski accident in summer 2023. Hines was not moving during the July 2023 accident, as another jet ski crashed into him. He spent last season on the Bills’ reserve/NFI list, and Buffalo cut him with a non-football injury designation this offseason. The Browns then picked up the ex-Colts passing-down back/return man but delayed his return via the NFI stash.
For the time being, Cleveland will continue to rely on Jerome Ford as its starting RB. The Browns’ primary Chubb fill-in last year, Ford is averaging 5.2 yards per carry. As a team, however, the Browns rank 26th on the ground. They have D’Onta Foreman, Pierre Strong and Gary Brightwell on its 53-man roster, but reinforcements — which should change Cleveland’s backfield hierarchy — are coming.
The Browns and Chubb agreed on a reworked contract that doubled as a pay cut this offseason, and the four-time 1,000-yard rusher is due for free agency in 2025. The RB market showed signs of reawakening this offseason, giving Chubb motivation. To fetch a notable third contract, however, Chubb will need to show signs of his pre-injury form. The Browns will hope Chubb can help a struggling Deshaun Watson, who has spent most of his time as Cleveland’s QB1 without the consistent ball-carrier.
Formerly a Colts extension recipient, Hines was dealt to the Bills before the 2022 deadline. He returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in Buffalo’s regular-season finale that year and, in addition to two punt-return TDs, has two 400-yard receiving seasons on his resume.
Stefanski is running such a dysfunctional offense, have no idea how he maintains his job as he’s a horrible coach. I state that as If Jerome Ford is his lead back then why he is playing head games with him and giving more snaps to D’ante Foreman? Never know from one game to the next who is running the ball with Stefanski. Cleveland as a whole is just a joke of franchise and this coach is certainly helping them live up to this reputation
Jerome Ford…typo
And D’Onta typo. Those happen, so I’m not going to hold that against you. However, Stefanski was Coach of the Year ::checks notes:: last season. And for the second time in 4 years as a head coach. So maybe pump the brakes on the calling him a horrible coach part. It’s been a disappointing season so far for sure.
So I root for the Browns (I’m a Vikings fan first but my best friend is a massive browns fan) and Stefanski shouldn’t have won either CotYs. He won them because of the Browns effect, that they are expected to be bad so the first CotY he got more credit than he deserved for riding a very talented team to the playoffs and last year Flacco won him the award because he was not winning it or making the playoffs if DTR was the starting QB. He’s always been overrated and he and Andrew Berry should be on the hot seat for wasting a lot of talent.
Finally, some good news. Now, fire Berry and his cronies.
It will be interesting to see if Chubb can return to form, as he’s a free agent at the end of this season and likely needs to exhibit a good portion of his previous ability if he wants to see another contract.