Browns must do right by Nick Chubb with forthcoming comeback and contract year coinciding

There are still many unknowns surrounding the season-ending knee injury of Browns star running back Nick Chubb.

Among the mysteries is how the organization will handle Chubb's contract moving forward.

No matter how Chubb's comeback attempt unfolds, Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam should commit to doing right by the four-time Pro Bowl selection because he has done everything right for the franchise since it drafted him in the second round (No. 35 overall) in 2018.

The front office led by General Manager Andrew Berry and chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta handles the club's player personnel and contractual decisions, but orders should come from the very top to ensure if Chubb completes a comeback, it will be in a Browns uniform.

Life isn't fair. The NFL is a cutthroat business. Unless there's an exception to the rule like Joe Thomas, loyalty doesn't exist in professional sports.

The 2024 season is the last one on Chubb's contract, and although no one should bet against him returning to game action next year, it's not guaranteed.

Because of what Chubb, 27, has meant and still means to the Browns, this is a special case.

The Browns have treated Chubb like a player who transcends his position in the past. It happened when an analytics-driven brain trust led by Berry and DePodesta defied an increasingly common leaguewide trend by committing long term to a high-profile running back, signing Chubb in 2021 to a three-year, $36.6 million contract extension, which included $20 million guaranteed.

The ultimate professional and lead-by-example guy, Chubb should be approached as an anomaly again.

Since Chubb's injury occurred, coach Kevin Stefanski has repeatedly said the Browns will “support him in every way.” The statement should apply to business matters involving Chubb, even if it's not what Stefanski has in mind when he says it.

Chubb is expected to undergo surgery on his left knee this week after it bent in gruesome fashion Sept. 18 early in the second quarter of a 26-22 loss at Pittsburgh on “Monday Night Football.”

On Saturday, a league source confirmed for the Beacon Journal's Chris Easterling that only the medial collateral ligament in Chubb's injured knee is believed to be torn, but the full extent of the damage will be revealed during surgery. In other words, the anterior cruciate ligament, which the source confirmed is thought to be stretched but not torn, could still require a repair.

If Chubb's injury is limited to his MCL, the timetable for his return to football would be six to eight months, the source confirmed to Easterling. Obviously, if an ACL repair is necessary, it would increase Chubb's anticipated recovery time.

Stefanski and many Browns players have said they expect Chubb to bounce back during his rehabilitation.

What makes the comeback trail daunting, though, is the history of the knee in question. Chubb suffered a torn MCL, a torn lateral collateral ligament and a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee as a University of Georgia sophomore on Oct. 10, 2015, against Tennessee. However, Chubb's ACL was spared nearly eight years ago.

With Chubb-related business decisions looming, former agent Joel Corry, an NFL contracts and salary cap expert for CBS Sports, outlined scenarios the Browns could consider.

• Chubb is owed an $11.775 million base salary in 2024, but there is no guaranteed money left on the deal next year. One way or another, Corry expects the Browns to do something with the contract. “I can't imagine they're going to pay him his full salary coming off an injury,” Corry said by phone.

• The Browns could restructure Chubb's contract. If he can play in 2024, Corry said a revamped deal would likely include a pay cut but also playing-time incentives. “You could look at it kind of like what Cleveland did for Jack Conklin” after the offensive tackle suffered a torn patellar tendon in 2021, Corry said.

• If Chubb can't play in 2024, the Browns could release him with a failed physical designation. He would then qualify for injury protection under the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFL Players Association, giving him $2.05 million of the $11.775 million base salary he's due. “That's the worst-case scenario,” Corry said.

• The Browns could also release Chubb and re-sign him, but there would be a catch regarding the injury protection to which he's entitled. “Then he's not going to get the $2.05 million. That only applies if he's released and he can't play football at all next year,” Corry said.

• If Chubb can't play in 2024, the Browns could ask him to take a pay cut and then basically freeze his contract until 2025 by placing him on the reserve/physically unable to perform list and keeping him there. “If you're on PUP in the last year of your contract and you're unable to perform services as of the sixth regular-season game and you never get activated, your contract tolls,” Corry said.

Corry pointed out those possibilities would be discarded if the Browns were to grow unsatisfied with their running back trio of Jerome Ford, Kareem Hunt and Pierre Strong Jr. enough to deal for Indianapolis Colt star Jonathan Taylor, who would undoubtedly command a long-term contract extension. The NFL trade deadline is 4 p.m. Oct. 31.

“I'm going to put that as the nuclear, long-shot option,” Corry said.

In Sunday's 27-3 rout of the Tennessee Titans, Ford had 10 carries for 18 yards and a touchdown to go along with two catches for 33 yards and a TD. Hunt had five carries for 13 yards and two catches for 22 yards. Strong had six carries for 27 yards.

After Chubb was carted off the field in Pittsburgh, Ford had 16 carries for 106 yards and three catches for 25 yards and a TD. Strong had two carries for 1 yard, a TD.

Corry also mentioned the possibility of the Browns trading for a short-term “rental” at running back instead of a long-term commitment like Taylor. A player Corry said would fit is the Titans' Derrick Henry, who's in the final season of his contract and scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in March. The Browns held Henry to 20 yards on 11 carries Sunday.

"Derrick Henry's a stopgap. ... That only works if Tennessee isn't any good by the trading deadline," Corry said.

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If Corry were in the shoes of Chubb's agents, what would his strategy be?

“It all depends on how the rehab's going,” Corry said. “If he's going to be able to play football in 2024, then we're talking some sort of pay-cut scenario with incentives. If not, then I'm going to push for the pay cut [and] contract toll, and he's around in 2025, although I suspect that [the Browns are] going to move in another direction and find a back if he can't play in 2024.

“So he could still get cut if the guy who ends up replacing him for 2024 does well. But he probably would make more money from the potential tolling aspect than the injury protection in the CBA because presumably you would negotiate a pay cut where he'd make more than $2.05 million.”

Count this column as a vote for the Browns to exercise patience and see this through with Chubb. As long as he plays again, it should be with Cleveland.

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Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns face Nick Chubb contract decisions after knee injury