The Cleveland Browns are awaiting the return of Nick Chubb, who needed two knee surgeries to repair injuries he suffered in September. Chubb has been one of the NFL’s best running backs when healthy, and a return to form could only boost the Browns’ chances of returning to the playoffs.
We’ve heard little from the team or Chubb about how close he is to returning to on-field action, but videos of Chubb working out on social media back up his June comments that he’s making good progress. Though Chubb stressed there is no timeline for a return, he said he was where he “needed to be” on his rehab schedule.
When the Browns open full training camp this week, they could place Chubb and new running back Nyheim Hines on the active-physically unable to perform list if neither is immediately cleared for practice participation. Hines is also recovering from a torn ACL and said in May he and the Browns’ medical staff had targeted late July and the start of camp for a potential return.
An active-PUP designation means a player isn’t participating at the start of training camp and remains eligible for the reserve-PUP list to start the regular season. A player on active-PUP still counts against the 90-man roster and can be activated at any time, so the designation at the start of camp is sort of a technicality and security blanket for the team as long as that player continues to progress toward full health and participation. The Browns have to make PUP designations at the start of training camp.
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A player who opens the regular season on the PUP list will miss at least the first four games and doesn’t count on the active 53-man roster until he’s activated. We don’t know whether Cleveland’s plans for Chubb include the possibility he’ll miss the season’s first month, and we might not get a clearer answer right away. The Browns added Hines and D’Onta Foreman to a group that returns Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong Jr. Ford took over as the lead back last season after Chubb’s injury.
We might not have a true answer to whether the Browns added extra experience to the running backs group because they’re unsure about Chubb or because of special teams and insurance reasons. It’s probably some combination of both.
Hines suffered a torn ACL in a personal watercraft accident last July and missed the entire season. The Buffalo Bills acquired Hines in a midseason 2022 trade and cut him at the start of the new league year in March. The Browns think Hines could win their kick return job, and he either could compete with Ford and Foreman for the primary backup spot or serve as the third-down back if Ford is in the No. 1 role early in the season.
Essentially, the Browns have options with their roster management and don’t need to rush Chubb back. But if Chubb returns to practice at any point during camp, he no longer would be eligible for PUP and would have to be on the 53-man active roster to start the regular season.
Let’s dive further into the running backs unit.
Nick Chubb
He’s been one of the team’s best players. He’s been one of the most popular players, too, and not just for his extensive highlight reel of big runs. Chubb has been a low-key, low-maintenance superstar who has consistently produced. His career average of 5.3 yards per carry is the seventh-best total by any player since 1946.
Now, Chubb is trying to come back from a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus in his left knee, the same one in which he’d previously suffered a torn ACL during his college career.
Chubb, 28, took a pay cut for the final year of his current contract to ensure a return to the Browns. Chubb has never liked to say much, but in his only interview since suffering the injury, he said he’s motivated to return to form and any other result “never crossed my mind.”
We’ll soon find out more about the timetable Chubb and the team’s medical staff have for his return.
.@NickChubb looks ready to get back out there. 😤👏
(via joc.films/IG) pic.twitter.com/RiNqK9oVIH
— NFL (@NFL) July 15, 2024
Jerome Ford
The Browns believe in Ford’s ability and versatility. He’s a former high school wide receiver who won the team’s kickoff return job as a rookie despite having minimal return experience. The Browns just wanted the ball in his hands.
They still do, but probably not as a 20-carry-a-game type of player. Ford was in the front of every running back line in the spring but also lined up across the formation in the early stages of the team’s spring offensive installation. The ideal scenario for Ford is probably a time share in which he contributes in multiple ways and gets chances to break the kind of big runs he did at times last season.
Hines is a smaller, shiftier, pass-catching type, and the 235-pound Foreman is a power-first player who could take on a Kareem Hunt-like role for the Browns if Chubb is out or limited at the start of the season. Both provide experience and a level of insurance even if Cleveland ends up with Chubb and Ford atop the depth chart.
Assuming he’s healthy, Hines is probably first in a line that’s otherwise unsettled for one of the Browns’ two kickoff return jobs under the NFL’s new kickoff format. Hines returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in 2022 and returned two punts for touchdowns as a rookie in 2019. The 27-year-old has previously played under new Browns offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and second-year special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone, and it’s fair to assume that familiarity led Cleveland to sign Hines to a one-year deal despite his knee injury.
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Hines has never played more than 44 percent of his team’s offensive snaps in a season. He was targeted 81 times by Indianapolis Colts passers as a rookie and had at least 40 receptions in four of his five seasons. So it’s fair to say the Browns view him as a third-down option, return specialist and potential utility player. Foreman could take on the short-yardage work that Chubb doesn’t, and he also can take feature back snaps in certain situations.
The Browns are the 28-year-old Foreman’s fourth team in the last four seasons. He averaged a career-best 4.5 yards per carry for the Carolina Panthers in 2022, and then he started eight of the nine games he played for the Chicago Bears last season.
Foreman’s one-year deal is worth $1.29 million, just above the league’s veteran minimum. He has $335,000 guaranteed, per Spotrac, and Hines has $1.35 million guaranteed and a $350,000 bonus for being on the active roster in Week 1. As long as he’s ready to go by late August, Hines will be on the 53-man roster.
Strong’s best asset is his straight-line speed, and in the spring it looked like he could again be one of the team’s best special teams players. That’s his ticket to earning a roster spot even if the running backs group remains as crowded as it appears to be.
The Browns liked Strong ahead of the 2022 draft when he ended up going a round before they landed on Ford. Strong came to Cleveland in a trade last August and became a successful punt gunner before eventually getting chances as the kickoff returner and backup running back.
Because he wasn’t with the Browns for training camp last year, he could take a big step this summer in terms of comfort level with the offense. Even if Chubb and Hines are healthy for the start of the season, Strong’s special teams ability should keep him on the roster. He’ll be a candidate for one of the two kickoff return jobs.
Strong, 25, is on his rookie contract for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Pierre Strong Jr. should be a candidate for one of Cleveland’s two kick return jobs this season. (Justin Casterline / Getty Images)
Kelly, 27, has spent most of the last three seasons on the Browns practice squad. He had a couple of big moments in last year’s preseason and has been promoted to the active roster for game days on a couple of occasions, but he’s only played in one game over the past two seasons.
Kelly, who’s played in 13 career regular-season games, is a long shot to make the active roster but will likely get some carries in the preseason.
An undrafted rookie, Robbins is a 237-pound power back who should get a lot of carries through training camp and the preseason. Robbins was the No. 36 running back in the 2024 class, per the final rankings by The Athletic’s draft expert Dane Brugler.
Robbins spent three seasons playing sparingly at Louisville, his hometown school, before becoming UNLV’s leading rusher in 2022. He transferred to BYU for his final season and started the year down the depth chart. The best of his eight games last fall was an 182-yard performance versus Oklahoma.
As was the case last summer, the Browns will almost certainly be planning to carry a young running back on their practice squad during the 2024 season, and Robbins will try to use this summer to give himself further opportunities.
(Top photo of Jerome Ford, Nick Chubb and John Kelly Jr.: Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)