Those who were hoping to see Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb back on the field for Week 1 are probably going to end up disappointed.
According to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, the Browns will likely go into the season with Jerome Ford, Pierre Strong, D’Onta Foreman and Nyheim Hines as their running backs.
Cabot says that she expects Chubb to need more time to rehabilitate his knee and will not be ready at the beginning of the season.
This should not come as much of a surprise.
Chubb suffered a devastating knee injury in Week 2 of last season, tearing both his ACL and MCL. He underwent a pair of surgeries to remedy the issues back in November.
Some even wondered if the Browns could potentially cut Chubb during the offseason, but Cleveland decided to hold on to him.
The 28-year-old, who played his collegiate football at the University of Georgia, was selected by the Browns in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
He got off to a great start, rushing for 996 yards and eight touchdowns while averaging a robust 5.2 yards per carry during his rookie campaign.
Chubb then rattled off four straight 1,000-yard seasons, topping out at 1,525 yards in 2022. In addition, Chubb posted at least five yards per attempt in each of those years, with his most efficient campaign coming in 2020 when he logged a terrific 5.6 yards per tote.
The Cedartown, Ga. native made the Pro Bowl in each of those four seasons, also earning a Second-Team All-Pro selection in 2022.
Cleveland managed to go 11-6 and make the playoffs without Chubb this past year, although it would obviously be nice to have him back on the field in 2024.
Of course, whether or not we ever see the Nick Chubb of old after such a horrific injury remains to be seen. Hopefully, he can fully recover and return to sending opposing defenses scrambling.
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