The Cleveland Browns have made a lot of significant changes this offseason, and some of the most notable have come in their running back room. The Browns spent not one, but two day midround picks on running backs, selecting Quinshon Judkins out of Ohio State in the second round, and Dylan Sampson out of Tennessee in the fourth.
After also re-signing Jerome Ford, they now have a very crowded running back room. And that makes it unlikely that a familiar face will return to the fold. General manager Andrew Berry admitted on Tuesday that Nick Chubb will probably not be back with the team.
"I wouldn't rule anything out, but I would say it's probably increasingly unlikely," Berry said in a radio interview, via ProFootballTalk. "We do have two young guys that we like. We think Jerome plays a role. It's basically kind of maybe seeing how the roles shake out in the running backs room."
Given the moves they had made this offseason, the writing was obviously on the wall that Chubb would not be back in Cleveland. Still, hearing Berry say it out loud is notable, given Chubb's massive rushing success with the Browns, his injury and return to the lineup, and his status on the open market.
"My job in decision-making is to be non-emotional. And then in terms of managing and treating people, it's to be able to do it as empathetically as possible," Berry said. "I think one of the hardest things is when you transition away from a player who meant a lot to the organization and meant a lot to the community."
Last season, Chubb came back from a devastating knee injury to play in eight games with the Browns, totaling 332 yards and three touchdowns on his 102 carries. He had never averaged below 5.0 yards per carry in his career, but was at just 3.3 per carry in 2024. He also had just three explosive rushes in 2024, via TruMedia, giving him a 2.9% explosive-run rate after he had never posted a rate below 10% in his career prior to the injury.
It obviously makes sense that Chubb would not longer be as effective as he was pre-injury, given both the extent to which his knee was damaged and his advancing age. (Last year was his age-29 season, and running backs tend to fall off hard in their late 20s to begin with.) He could potentially find a role with a team this season as a short-yardage back, given his size and physicality, but the skills that made him such a special player are more than likely significantly diminished, and that makes it unlikely that we ever see the version of Chubb that Browns fans -- and football fans -- came to know and love, ever again, even if he does regain some level of effectiveness compared with what he was able to do last year.
"Look, you're never going to rule out someone as near and dear to our heart as Nick," Berry continued, regarding the possibility of a return. "And I would expect him to take another step, being another year removed from the injury. But I'd say maybe a return is less likely -- at least in the short term -- with us right now."
