Browns’ Nick Chubb Expected To Return Sunday After Suffering Horrific Injury in 2023

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said Friday that he expects running back Nick Chubb to play on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. Running back Jerome Ford has been ruled out of the game with a hamstring injury.

Chubb will make his return to the football field for the first time in over a year. Chubb has not played since Sept. 18, 2023, when he sustained a gruesome knee injury in the Cleveland Browns Week 2 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Chubb tore his MCL and damaged his ACL, a similar injury to the one he sustained while playing for Georgia.

Chubb missed the rest of the 2023 season and the first six weeks of the 2024 NFL season. Chubb’s injury came after a career year in 2022 when he ran for a career-high 1,525 yards and 12 touchdowns while averaging 5.1 yards per carry. Only Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs finished the season with more rushing yards than Chubb.

The 28-year-old reflected on his injury for The Player’s Tribune earlier this week.

“When I was lying on the ground against Pittsburgh, I wasn’t so naive anymore. I had so many metal nails and plates in my knee from the first [surgery]. I’m thinking: Please don’t let those nails be splintered all over my leg right now. I knew what rehab from something like this actually meant. I knew what nine weeks in a straight-knee brace does to a leg. When I finally got out and saw my leg the first time, it had atrophied down to the size of my arm. I thought I was never gonna walk the same again, let alone run.”

Chubb will join a 1-5 Browns team that has faced serious struggles offensively to begin the season. The Browns have yet to score 20 points in a game this season and rank bottom-five in the NFL in total yards, passing yards, rushing yards, and points per game.

More news: Browns Find Themselves in Unfortunate NFL Offensive History After Six Games

The Browns have a plan for Chubb’s workload when he returns, but the team is looking for a spark from the veteran back. Over his career, Chubb has rushed for 6,511 yards and 48 touchdowns while averaging 5.3 yards per carry.

Ford currently leads the Browns in rushing, carrying the ball 50 times for 264 yards and a touchdown at an average of 5.3 yards per carry. He did a nice job filling in for Chubb last season — rushing for 813 yards — but Cleveland should be happy to see their top rusher take the field again after a severe injury.

For more on the Browns, head to Newsweek Sports.