Bear Digest

If Bears don't sign Nick Chubb they might need to stop him

Browns free agent running back could wind up hitting the comeback trail in the NFC North but that doesn't necessarily mean in Chicago.
Gene Chamberlain|
Nick Chubb during warmups to face the Cincinnati Bengals. Will be be coming to the NFC North soon, and if so where?
Nick Chubb during warmups to face the Cincinnati Bengals. Will be be coming to the NFC North soon, and if so where? | Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

If the Bears don't sign running back Nick Chubb, perhaps they should get used to the idea of trying to stop him.

The former Cleveland Browns and four-time Pro Bowl running back is a free agent and much speculation arose earlier in the week the Bears would sign him when it was reported on the flagship station for Browns broadcasts that an NFC North team was interested in him.

They didn't say which NFC North team but the obvious hole is in Chicago after the Bears failed to draft a needed back until the seventh round.

However, Pro Football Network suggests in an article about ideal teams for remaining free agents that it isn't the Bears who should sign Chubb but the Green Bay Packers.

The reasoning is logical unless they want to see Josh Jacobs wear down.

"Josh Jacobs would still be the unquestioned starter," PFN wrote. "However, Jacobs played the 10th-highest share of his team’s running back snaps (62%), so the Packers could improve their depth."

With all of that workload for Jacobs, the Packers didn't draft a running back.

Chubb was coming off a terrible knee injury last year and only had 102 snaps, averaging 3.3 yards a carry. It's not unusual for backs coming off ACL injuries to recover completely and to struggle the first year back. However, the older backs who have had such injuries rarely bounce back from those.

Chubb turns 30 in December.

Chubb had four straight 100-yard seasons as Cleveland's best runner but it probably didn't help him that he suffered a season-ending broken foot late last year either.

He has been posting video of his workouts to prove he's entirely healthy.

A power back, he would be ideal for the Bears or Packers if he was younger and healthy. But he isn't younger and his health is something better left for team doctors to determine.

The Packers don't have a long history of wanting to rush into signing unrestricted free agents. In Chubb's case, the deciding factor in which NFC North team does sign him is one familiar to everyone in the league—money.

The Bears only have about $4 million in effective cash under the cap, according to Overthecap.com. The Packers have $31 million in effective cap space.

If that is the determining factor where he goes, then it's no contest.

Regardless, Bears GM Ryan Poles suggested during a radio appearance during this past week that he wanted to get a look at what he has in the running backs room, presumably seventh-rounder Kyle Monangai, undrafted free agent Deion Hankins from UTEP. That could also include running back Ian Wheeler, who is coming a rookie year torn ACL suffered in preseason.

Rookie camp is next weekend and then OTAs begin May 20.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.