Browns coach Kevin Stefanski confirms Nick Chubb will undergo surgery on knee injury
BEREA — The Browns already knew it was worst-case scenario the moment it happened in Monday night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. All they were waiting on Tuesday was confirmation of their worst fears.
That’s the news the Browns received after running back Nick Chubb underwent an MRI on his left knee. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed Tuesday afternoon Chubb will undergo surgery that will end his season.
Stefanski would not get into the specifics of the injury during a Zoom call with the media. He did say Chubb, who was taken to the hospital for an evaluation Monday night, was in the team facility on Tuesday.
“I think that’s one of those things, really with surgery, you’ll get a better story on what it was,” Stefanski said Tuesday. “You know, disappointed. I can’t say it enough. I know our team feels that way. I know our fans feel that way. And I know Nick, when you guys get to talk to him, he’ll say the same thing. We got to move on, and we got a big one this week. We’ll miss Nick. OK. And we will support Nick, but we’re moving on to Tennessee.”
Chubb, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, sustained the injury on a 3-yard run with 14:14 remaining in the second quarter of the Browns’ 26-22 loss to the Steelers. As linebacker Cole Holcomb was wrapping him up high, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick came in low and made contact with the side of Chubb’s left knee.
Against the Steelers, Chubb gained 64 yards on 10 carries, the final one of those being the final one of his season. He ran for 108 yards on 18 carries in the opener against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The injury left a pall hanging over the Browns locker room after the game. Stefanski understands the challenges inherent in trying to raise the spirits of players who watched the one they consider to be the heart and soul of the team suffer a crushing injury.
However, Stefanski also knows the challenges the Browns face in the two weeks before their Week 5 bye. That starts with an non-divisional AFC home game against a 1-1 Tennessee Titans team Sunday, followed a week later by a critical AFC North showdown with the 2-0 Baltimore Ravens.
“Nick wants this team to go perform,” Stefanski said. “Nick wants this team to go practice. Nick wants this team, obviously, to go win, but more than anything, he wants this team to make sure that the focus is on doing the things that we need to do to go win games. So that’s what we’ll do. Very quickly, you have to turn the page like I told you guys last week, you got to let those wins go really fast, and you got to let those losses go really fast.”
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The injury occurred on the same knee Chubb sustained three torn ligaments in while as a sophomore at the University of Georgia in 2015. The injury required him to have surgery on the three ligaments, but not his ACL.
The Browns will have to place Chubb on season-ending injured reserve before filling his spot on the active roster. Stefanski confirmed the process of finding another running back had already begun.
“(General manager) Andrew (Berry) and the personnel departments are working through options,” Stefanski said. “You don’t, as you know, you don’t replace Nick Chubb. You just don’t do that. Great players in the league, you look around, they go out. It’s always not one person that replaces a player of his caliber. So everybody’s got to do a little bit more, a little bit more everywhere.”
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Second-year pros Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong Jr. are the only running backs on the active roster behind Chubb. Ford ran for 106 yards on 16 carries in Pittsburgh, as well as catching a TD pass the play after Chubb was injured.
The Browns also have rookie Hassan Hall on their practice squad. That’s not a lot of experience at the position, something Stefanski declined to say was a prerequisite for any potential targets.
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“I think we just got to look at the options that are available,” Stefanski said. “I don’t know that there’s one specific thing that we’re looking for.”
The Browns made Chubb the No. 35 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. They signed Chubb to a four-year extension in 2021 that boasts the fourth-highest annual value for a running back at $12.2 million.
The last of the $5 million in guaranteed money is up at the end of this season. If the Browns were to release him after this year, they would save $12.2 million in cap space while carrying just $4 million in dead money, according to OverTheCap.com.
Chubb is coming off a career year last year, rushing for 1,525 yards and 12 touchdowns on a career-high 302 attempts. In 77 career games, he’s rushed for 6,513 yards and 48 touchdowns on 1,238 attempts.
