Browns general manager Andrew Berry continued this week his offseason refrain that Nick Chubb's injury in Pittsburgh last season will not be the running back's last snap in Cleveland.
Berry eschewed any temptation to move on from Chubb, who has no guaranteed money and a $15.825 million cap hit in 2024. The GM remained mum on whether they touched or plan to adjust his deal at all but said the plan for the RB's recovery remains on track.
"Honestly, it is probably too early to really understand what he's going to look like," Berry said this week at the NFL's Annual League Meeting, via the Akron Beacon Journal. "He's doing truly doing a fantastic job with the rehab and he should start to load run probably sometime this upcoming month."
Chubb suffered a gruesome injury in Week 2, the type that could alter the rest of the dominant running back's career. Berry noted that while they'll continue to take it slow with Chubb's recovery, the team is confident in the steps he's taken so far.
"I think that as we think about it, until we see him in the next couple months, I think the next -- call it three -- months will be pretty telling in terms of his potential readiness for early in the season," Berry said. "We are going to be conservative in terms of our approach in our assessment with building the roster because he is coming off of a major knee injury. But I do have to give him a lot of credit. He's done a really, really nice job.
"But I think we'll have a better sense. Don't hold me to it, but I think probably if you ask me that question around the draft, I may have maybe a little bit more of a specific answer."
The Browns didn't move on from Chubb, but they did bring in reinforcements. This offseason, Cleveland signed D'Onta Foreman and Nyheim Hines to go along with Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong, who were already on the roster. Berry said the additions were more supplements than replacements for Chubb.
"I wouldn't read too much into it, to be honest with you," Berry said. "D'Onta, he really, I think, has a skillset that's probably pretty similar to how we used Kareem (Hunt) this past year. And then Nyheim was honestly really more for his return value and his pass-game skillset. So I wouldn't read too much into that."
The question hovering around Lake Erie is when Chubb might be ready to return in 2024 and whether he will take more than a year to look like himself -- as we've seen from other backs who suffered knee injuries. We likely won't have a realistic answer until training camp in July.
