What we learned about the Cleveland Browns in ESPN’s redraft of the NFL
By Chad Porto
There are 95 better options for a team than Nick Chubb
This one is anger-inducing. It’s not because he’s a running back either, as Christian McCaffery went 20th overall to the Los Angeles Rams, Dalvin Cook went 33rd overall to the Kansas City Chiefs, Saquon Barkley went 39th overall to the Houston Texans, Derrick Henry went to the Chicago Bears at 46th overall, Alvin Kamara went 51st to the Buccaneers, Ezekiel Elliot went 60th to the Dolphins, and then Nick Chubb went 96th to the Chiefs.
Chubb isn’t good enough to be the featured back on a team apparently.
What’s worse isn’t that Chubb got disrespected so mightly by going to the Chiefs after Cook did, it’s that he simply is better than most people picked ahead of him. Sure, McCaffery is the best running back in the league right now. Only a maroon would argue otherwise. Running backs in today’s NFL need to be as good running the ball as they are receiving. That would put a premium on someone like Barkley. As plays just like McCaffery only not as great of a receiver.
Elliot and Henry may have the big frames and impressive performances but that doesn’t mean they’re better than Chubb. In fact, Chubb has a better yards-per-carry for a career than both of them. As for Kamara, Chubb is just a better runner than Kamara is. Kamara’s rookie year appears to be a bit of a fluke, as he went from averaging 6.1 yards a carry to 4.7 two years later.
Chubb is the third-best running back in the NFL and it’s a bit of a shame that not even Trotter wanted to draft him in the 3rd round. Which would have made sense, having a rookie quarterback, you could use arguably the best between the tackles runner in all of football to take the pressure off of Herbert.
Heck, if it’s Kevin Stefanski’s offense, you would’ve been able to really utilize Chubb well, considering how Stefanski runs the ball. Thankfully Trotter isn’t the Browns real General Manager.