The Cleveland Browns are coming off one of the best seasons in the franchise’s history since the Super Bowl merger. With injuries racking up across the board, they still pushed into the playoffs, but lost in the Wild Card Round to the Houston Texans when they ran into the buzzsaw that is C.J. Stroud.
But they did that all without a notable player on their team — star running back Nick Chubb. They lost Chubb in Week 2 against the Steelers. Chubb suffered a severe knee injury when his knee hyperextended on a hit from Minkah Fitzpatrick.
He required multiple surgeries to fix the issues, which were multiple torn ligaments in his knee. At 28 years old, though, the Browns have one of the toughest decisions to make. Entering the third year of his deal, Chubb is set to cost north of $15 million against the cap, and the Browns could save $11 million by releasing him. And ESPN’s Dan Graziano believes he might be a cut candidate.
“He’s 28, coming off a major season-ending knee injury and scheduled to earn $12 million in non-guaranteed money in the final year of his contract. Yes, he’s an extension candidate, but he’s also a potential cap casualty. Either way, Chubb could be the latest bellwether of the frustrating running back market,” Graziano wrote.
It should be noted even more that this knee injury occurred in the same knee that the Browns star injured at Georgia in a similarly gruesome fashion. And while Jerome Ford and Kareem Hunt did not give the Browns the same production that they would have received from Chubb, it does seem at least plausible that the Browns could move on from Chubb, causing him to leave Cleveland for the first time in his NFL career. If that happens, it will represent a huge shift in the offense after the team’s hire of Ken Dorsey.