Three expectations for Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb, who enters his third year in the NFL as one of the best backs in the league.
All Nick Chubb does is produce. The Cleveland Browns running back may not be the flashiest player to grace the NFL, and that’s just fine by a majority of fans on the north shore. They’d prefer their back go to work, destroying defenses.
That’s Chubb. He’s quiet and works hard.
Remember when the Browns went into Baltimore in Week 4 last season and punched the Ravens in the face, upsetting the eventual North champions? Chubb had 27 touches for 131 yards.
Ideally, Chubb will help the Browns and first-year head coach Kevin Stefanski manage and finish off games.
Fans saw what the future holds if Mayfield is asked to throw the ball 40-45 times per game. It’s just not his game. He’s better off throwing 24-28 times, letting Chubb punish defenses with his physicality.
Plus, it doesn’t take Paul Brown to figure out how the offense as a whole looks better when Chubb is burning the opposition. If he’s on the field and a running game is established, passing plays should, in theory, get easier for Mayfield.
He’s one of the best players in the league, yet still underrated. Here’s three expectations for Chubb in 2020.
Cleveland Browns 1st rushing champ since 1968
The Cleveland Browns have a strong tradition of running backs, however, no back has captured the league’s rushing title since Leroy Kelly sat atop the league back in 1968. That campaign marked Kelly’s second-time leading the league and followed a run from Jim Brown in which the G.O.A.T. won eight rushing titles in nine years from 1957-1965.
Chubb should’ve ended the Browns’ drought a season ago, but in a season full of head scratchers, then head coach Freddie Kitchens put one of the final nails in the coffin of his Cleveland coaching career.
Chubb had the league league going into the final game on the road heading into Cincinnati. Unfortunately, Kitchens proceeded to give him the ball 15 times. Chubb finished with 1,494 yards as Tennessee’s Derrick Henry passed him, rushing for 1,540 yards.
With the Browns expected to reign things in offensively in an offense that will now feature a fullback and multiple tight-end sets, it’s unlikely Chubb will become an afterthought on Stefanki’s playcalling sheet.
Additionally, Chubb was on the verge of the rushing title with what many viewed as an inferior offensive line. Now that the trenches have been dramatically upgraded, the best should still be yet to come.
If Chubb plays as expected, he should flirt with 1,600 yards.
A dozen TDs
Chubb’s been pretty steady when it comes to the Red Zone, as he’s scored eight touchdowns in each of his first two seasons.
Even in the clunky, uneven Kitchens era, when the head coach was dead-set on leaving Mayfield in an empty backfield three yards from the end zone, Chubb still managed to score eight times.
We’ve yet to see Stefanski on the field, but just based off what we’ve heard, it seems unlikely that he’ll be replicating Kitchens’ play calling.
That favors Chubb and the Browns rushing attack.
If you read what’s expected of Baker Mayfield in 2020, you shouldn’t look for the third-year veteran to turn into Patrick Mahomes. That’s OK, Mayfield doesn’t need to be the Chiefs’ great. Rather, Baker needs to be the player he was as a rookie. If he’s protecting the ball and throwing around 25 touchdowns, then the Browns will be fine.
Why?
Because Chubb and Kareem Hunt will be cashing in touchdowns down inside the 5-yard-line.
Now, I’d like to get crazy and predict Chubb will break Jim Brown’s record of 17 rushing touchdowns in a season (He did it in 1965 and 1958), but even I’ll rein it in a little.
If Chubb can get eight for Kitchens, he should easily score 12 touchdowns in 2020.
Cleveland Browns zone scheme will work in his favor
New coach Kevin Stefanski will usher in a zone blocking scheme similar to what Browns’ fans saw when Kyle Shanahan was coordinating the offense back in 2014.
Will Chubb thrive as a result of the switch? As Cleveland.com’s Terry Pluto noted, the great ones find a way to produce, no matter what’s being thrown at them.
Considering Chubb flirted with the NFL rushing title a season ago, on top of a stellar rookie campaign in 2018, the Georgia product certainly has the potential to be great.
As for the last time the zone blocking scheme was employed here? The Browns looked to finally have a credible running game as Terrance West, Isaiah Crowell and Ben Tate rushed for a tick over 1,500 yards.
That offensive line had Joe Thomas, and while this year’s unit may not have a future Hall of Famer, the unit is more than capable of doing what’s asked of them in Stefanski’s scheme.