Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb is scheduled to return to practice Wednesday for the first time in more than a year, head coach Kevin Stefanski said Monday.
Chubb is on the injured reserve list as he continues to recover from a torn ACL, PCL and MCL that he suffered in Week 2 last year. The injuries required two surgeries and Chubb spent the offseason rehabbing.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
This week marks the first time he’s eligible to return to the practice field. Once he does, the Browns have up to three weeks to activate him.
“We won’t get too far down the road on (when Chubb might be ready to play),” Stefanski said. “He’s working very hard. Natural progression is for him to start practicing, (and) we’ll see how he goes from there.”
The Browns have been careful not to share an exact timeline for Chubb’s expected return publicly, but the team always circled mid-October as a target date. Chubb was seen multiple times during training camp going through workouts with members of the team’s medical staff looking on, but he hasn’t spoken publicly since June.
Chubb said then that he’s “where I need to be” and would not rush a return. He’s been on the sideline for games, and most days during the regular season, he’s been spotted on the practice field as his teammates began their standard sessions. Chubb took a pay cut to remain with Cleveland for the final year of the contract he signed in 2021 and is scheduled to hit free agency after this season.
Chubb, 28, has been one of the league’s best running backs when healthy. He’s averaging 5.3 yards per carry for his career, and he ranks fourth on the franchise’s all-time rushing yards list (just 29 yards behind Mike Pruitt for third).
The 1-3 Browns started a three-game road trip with a loss Sunday in Las Vegas. Though Chubb would be eligible to be activated ahead of this week’s game at Washington, he could also miss upcoming games at Philadelphia on Oct. 13 and versus Cincinnati on Oct. 20. The Browns have believed since last spring that they’d get Chubb back on the field this season, but his exact role and readiness to become the team’s primary runner remain uncertain.
Stefanski said running back Nyheim Hines, who’s also coming back from a torn ACL and is on the non-football injury list, should return to practice this week as well. Assuming he does, he’d be on the same three-week timeline Chubb is for a roster decision.
The Browns added Hines and D’Onta Foreman to their running back room in the offseason in anticipation of Chubb missing at least the season’s first month. Jerome Ford has been the team’s primary running back over the first four games, a role he took on last September after Chubb’s injury.
(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
