Bear Digest

How Nick Chubb rumors do and don't make sense for Chicago Bears

Analysis: An NFC North team is supposedly closing in on signing the former Browns running back, and it's a logical situation but only if they explored other available free agents.
Gene Chamberlain|
Nick Chubb is removed from the field after a severe knee injury in 2023 that required two surgeries to repair.
Nick Chubb is removed from the field after a severe knee injury in 2023 that required two surgeries to repair. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

It normally takes little to get the rumor mill rolling, and even after the draft there is enough momentum for a comment by a radio announcer to provide impetus.

Ken Carman, a sports broadcaster with Browns Radio Network station 92.3FM The Fan, made the comment he has heard Browns running back Nick Chubb is "getting close" to another team, one from the NFC North.

Simple deduction says it's the Bears, although there is no confirmation of this.

"I heard he is kind of getting close to another team," said Carman, who is on a talk show from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.. "It happens to be in the NFC North.

THE BREAKING NICK CHUBB RUMOR TO BEARS

"I hope he comes back. I really do hope, but it's looking more and more unlikely."

Other NFC North suitors?

The only team with a really obvious running back need in the NFC North is the Bears, but that doesn't mean a team like the Vikings or Packers would ignore the chance to sign a back with Chubb's reputation.

The Bears have a potential second candidate in Roschon Johnson but he hasn't been allowed to prove himself to date and when he did get some chances he had injury issues. Seventh-round rookie Kyle Monangai is really their only other serious option.

However, the Packers could use a more impactful back behind Josh Jacobs but Emanuel Wilson did a respectable job with the role they gave him and is a bigger back like Chubb.

The Vikings really don't make sense because they not only have Aaron Jones, but they went out of their way to acquire Jordan Mason from the 49ers after he had 789 yards rushing last season.

Money talks

The Lions are a team with the one-two punch but there is always a possibility they'd take a chance on a third guy in case of injuries because they currently have something working for them that talks louder than guesses on personnel moves. That's the salary cap. They still have $39 million in cap space and even with players like Taylor Decker, Jameson Williams and Alim McNeill in need of contract extensions, it seems unlikely they'll eat all of their well-managed cap space with those.

It's probably not going to be a big contract for Chubb, anyway. Spotrac.com had estimated his market value at $3.3 million but a player who averaged only 3.3 yards a carry coming off a knee injury so bad it required two surgeries and over a year to heal before he could play seems unlikely to get a deal like that.

Chubb's 3.3 yards a carry came in a season when teammate Jerome Ford not only averaged 5.4 yards a carry behind the same line, and had a success rate of 47.1% to Chubb's 41.2% success rate. A success rate is 40% of the yards needed to the sticks on first down, 60% on second down and 100% on third or fourth down.

Any way it's sliced, Chubb's return from the knee was disappointing. Then he suffered a broken foot when a player stepped on his foot while he was driving forward and the season ended in Week 15 for him after it couldn't start until Week 7 because he was still trying to rehab from the knee.

Who else?

Chubb has been posting himself going through workouts to prove he's past the injuries and that's common for any player searching for a team, whether it's after injury or not. The clock is ticking on Chubb as he hits that proverbial running back wall of 30 years old in December, so naturally he's going to be trying to impress people with video.

There are other free agent backs still available who are better bets for success than Chubb, although not necessarily as a power type who the Bears would be seeking.

J.K. Dobbins is available still, in his prime at 26 but his 2023 injury was an Achilles and he had a torn ACL prior to that. Still, those injuries came at a much earlier age and in his bounce-back year of 2024 the former Ohio State back averaged 4.6 yards a carry and gained 905 yards on almost 200 carries for the Chargers.

Former Ben Johnson-Lions running back Jamaal Williams, former Vikings/Rams back Cam Akers, former Dolphins back Jeff Wilson and former Ravens/Chargers back Gus Edwards are always possibilities. But Williams and Edwards are already over the 30 wall. Wilson hits it this year and has played more than 12 games in a season only once in his seven years.

Akers might actually be the best option as he's young, versatile, big enough and has never been a back who needs a lot of carries. He was impressive enough to the Vikings that after they traded for him from the Rams and then did it again after he'd left in free agency.

Trading for an available back like Kenneth Walker or Breece Hall might have made more sense before the draft, but not as much now.

Regardless, there are plenty of possibilities out there now without trading away assets and enough to make it apparent that if the Bears really do sign Chubb they will be convinced he's healthy enough to be a better option than anyone in a group of free agent backs with flaws.

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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.