Nick Chubb has been quiet this offseason, but the Cleveland Browns‘ Dark Knight seems well on his way to returning to the field.
Chubb shared a photo on social media that featured his hero, Batman. The picture shows Batman being defeated but getting up to fight again. This is a clear message from Chubb that he believes he's coming back from the severe knee injury he had last season.
It could also be related to a recent message from his general manager, Andrew Berry, who gave an update on Chubb’s status during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.
“First of all, nobody wants to bet against Batman, right? We call him Batman here. And Nick, he is a special player and a special human being,” Berry said on May 2. “He is doing well on his road to recovery. He still has a long way to go. Because, obviously, it was a serious knee injury. But this past month, he actually started running on land.”
Chubb had both his ACL and MCL fixed during two separate surgeries, the latest of those procedures happening in November. Chubb recently increased his rehab with “load running.” However, it's still uncertain when he will return.
Browns running back Nick Chubb recently made changes to his contract
Chubb is the main part of the Cleveland offense. He’s a four-time Pro Bowler and the franchise’s fourth-leading rusher of all time. Chubb has gained 6,511 yards and 48 touchdowns in 77 career games. His average is 84.6 yards per game and 5.3 yards per carry.
The Browns recently agreed to a restructured contract with Chubb that moved a lot of his salary into incentives. The Browns could have cut Chubb and saved $11.8 million in cap space. But Berry realized that wouldn’t be an option considering Chubb’s value to the franchise.
“Yeah, I won’t comment in detail on the contract, other than to say that I think that whenever you go through a situation like that, I think people think it’s easy for a club, an agent, to be adversarial,” Berry said on April 18. “And, you know, with Nick’s situation, I really applaud Nick and then his reps, Todd France and A.J. Stevens, for being really collaborative partners and finding a solution that worked for everybody.
“You know, I think everybody in this room is happy that Nick is back as a Cleveland Brown and we’re very optimistic that he’s going to crush the rehab.”
Browns Stocked Up on RB Talent Amid Nick Chubb Uncertainty
The Browns worked hard this offseason to add talent to their running back room. Veterans D’Onta Foreman and Nyheim Hines will join Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong Jr. on the depth chart. With Chubb’s return date uncertain, that group will likely hold down the fort in the preseason and likely for the start of the year.
“One of the biggest roster-building challenges is when you’re trying to plan out a position group when the availability of a player is unknown. Whether it’s because they’re coming off a season-ending injury; whether it’s because they maybe have some injury history where you know they’re probably going to miss some games,” Berry said on The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima on 92.3 The Fan. “That can be really tough to plan around. In those cases, we usually plan pretty conservatively in terms of on the more negative side of the expectation for their availability, just because there’s more downside if you assume, ‘OK well they’re going to be on the front end of rehabilitation.’ And we’re going to build the roster that way and then you get surprised. A positive surprise is always a good thing.”
The Browns are expecting a pleasant surprise regarding Chubb’s situation. And as Berry mentioned, it's not wise to underestimate Batman.
