5 Cleveland Browns who shouldn’t be re-signed after the 2022 season
By Chad Porto
Chris Hubbard
I like Chris Hubbard quite a bit. He’s a good man, a solid player, and someone who has been asked to do anything and everything a player could do and has done it without a single complaint that we know of. The fact is, Hubbard is a luxury player the Cleveland Browns can no longer afford. The Browns are going to see their cap shrink by $60 million next year thanks to Deshaun Watson and Amari Cooper’s contracts alone.
The Browns are already paying Hubbard $2.4 million, and while that’s not a lot on its own, we’re now getting to a point where every dollar matters. The Browns will likely do anything they can to keep their cap space as healthy as possible, and unless Hubbard is looking to come back on a veteran minimum, there’s no reason to offer him a new deal.
Not only that, but Hubbard is turning 32 and has only had one very good year in Cleveland, and that was 2020. He had a fine 2018, but it was no better than any year he had prior in Pittsburgh and they let him go for a reason. So the Browns at best got the same player he was in Pittsburgh and now, at worse, have a lesser version as he’s aged.
The team has to develop the next generation, so it may be time to say goodbye to Hubbard.