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Will 2024 Season Be Nick Chubb's Last With The Browns?
The Browns re-worked Nick Chubb's current contract in order to guarantee he'd be back with the team next season.
All good things must come to an end, right?
On the heels of the Cleveland Browns and star running back Nick Chubbagreeing to terms on a re-worked contract that ensures he'll be back with the team in 2024, there's a harsh reality that Browns fans will have to come to terms with. The upcoming season very well could be the star running back's last in Northeast Ohio.
The agreement saw Cleveland drop Chubb's cap hit total from $15.85 million down to a measly $6.275 for next season by converting a large portion of what was an $11.775 base salary figure into incentive based pay. Chubb will have an opportunity to earn the money back if he hits certain statistical milestones. In the meantime, it creates some added cap flexibility for the franchise. A true "win-win" by NFL standards.
At his end of the season press conference, general manager Andrew Berry vowed to work hard to keep Chubb around. "No one in the organization, our family, nobody wants to see that carry in Pittsburgh, be the last time he carries the ball for the Cleveland Browns," he said at the time.
Sep 18, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb (24) is taken
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
As an act of good faith to fans, and out of the immense respect this organization has for Chubb, Berry kept his promise. Score one for emotion winning!
But there's only so much room for emotion in the business of sports though.
In fairness, it would be irresponsible for Berry to make any sort of longer term commitment to Chubb beyond next season. Until the Browns see him in action coming off of the second serious knee injury of his career, how could they?
Even if Chubb reaches all the plateaus in his now incentive laden deal and makes back all his money, there's still no guarantee he's back with the franchise in 2025.
Perhaps the biggest factor working against Chubb is his age. He'll turn 29 late in the season and be faced with football grim reaper of sorts when the 3-0 looming large next year. Like a doomsday clock, 30 has become a soft expiration date running backs and for Chubb, it's not just any ordinary 30. It's 30 with two serious knee injuries. That's not exactly a recipe for a running back to see a third multi-year contract.
The value of the superstar running back is diminishing every day in this sport. A team like Kansas City doesn't help that cause after winning back-to-back Super Bowls with 2022 seventh-round pick Isaiah Pacheco as the lead horse in its backfield. The league belongs to quarterbacks now and the Browns are supposed to have one of their own in Deshaun Watson.
This is the second consecutive offseason that the Browns will attempt to build an offense for Watson. New offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey is expected to play a major role in that process.
Watson has his own hurdles to clear coming off of shoulder surgery to repair a fractured glenoid in his throwing shoulder but Cleveland's brass has continually expressed confidence β granted what else are they going to do β that the 2017 first-round pick will get back on track. Maybe even back to being the QB he was in Houston in 2020, when he led the league in passing.
If that comes to fruition and Watson gives Cleveland more of his second half performance in Baltimore last November more consistently, the offense is only going to become more and more centered around him. Not Chubb and some archaic run game from a bygone era.
In the words of Guardians owner Paul Dolan, "enjoy him while he's here," because 2024 may very well be Nick Chubb's last dance as a member of the Cleveland Browns.
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