Rumor: Nick Chubb of the Browns could be a cap casualty in the 2024 NFL free agency class
It would have seemed unimaginable a year ago that Nick Chubb would be leaving the Cleveland Browns. That isn’t the case anymore, though, as the running back, a four-time Pro Bowler, has been linked to a salary cap blowout.
A number of publications, including the NFL and The Athletic, think that Chubb may soon be available for purchase. That conjecture is a result of Chubb’s contract and his latest ailment.
Chubb had to have three surgeries to treat a major knee ailment that kept him out of the Browns’ final 16 games of the 2023 season. Although cutting him would cost the Browns $4 million in deal money, he would have a $16 million salary cap hit the following season. Chubb is in the last year of a $36 million, three-year contract extension.
The 28-year-old Chubb is possibly the best running back in the NFL when healthy. Chubb gained 6,341 yards and 48 touchdowns with rushes in his first five seasons with the Browns. With 5.3 yards per carry during his career, Chubb has the third-highest average for a running back in NFL history and the seventh-best mark overall.
Chubb’s knee injury from the previous season, his financial circumstances, and the play of backup Jerome Ford, though, have some thinking that his time in Cleveland may be coming to an end.
One would expect that the Browns would urge Chubb to modify his deal before waiving him, given his track record of success and his enormous popularity in Cleveland. Chubb was a key player in the Browns’ lone postseason victory this century, so losing him would be a huge PR blow for the team.
Should the Browns release him, Chubb ought to have a reasonably strong market. With Tony Pollard set to enter free agency, the Cowboys are a club that comes out of the gates right away.