3 Most Likely Jerome Ford Trade Destinations After Nick Chubb Contract Restructure
Jerome Ford could be on his way out of Cleveland after Nick Chubb and the Browns agreed to a new contract.
With Nick Chubb's interesting new contract, the Cleveland Browns now have a pretty serious logjam at running back.
Chubb's making less base money in 2024 now, but he has incentives that can get him back up to his original pay. That, combined with some of the offseason's early comments about his impressive recovery, signals to me that he expects to play a significant role as he returns from his ACL tear.
That means the Browns' backfield is suddenly way too crowded. Chubb, Jerome Ford, D'Onta Foreman and Nyhiem Hines leave too many mouths to feed. Foreman's capable of handling an RB1 role while Chubb recovers and would be a great RB2. He's also significantly cheaper than Ford.
That means Ford could be the odd man out, and as a promising 24-year-old, the Browns should have no trouble finding a team willing to trade some draft capital. Here are the three most likely landing spots.
1. Los Angeles Rams
You'll notice a trend here — I'm largely looking at offenses in which Ford could play a complementary role. He's an explosive playmaker who can add big upside to any offense, but he's probably miscast as a workhorse.
The Rams have their workhorse in Kyren Williams, but they've spent years dealing with a rotation of disappointing backups. Ronnie Rivers and Zach Evans can't carry this backfield if Williams gets hurt, and they're not even especially exciting RB2 options besides him.
Williams thrived as a high-volume rusher last season, averaging 19.0 rush attempts per game, but that still meant only playing 82% of the team's offensive snaps when healthy. That massive workload was also in part out of necessity — you'd rather see him play something like 60-70% and not be forced to miss almost one third of the season.
Ford would take a lot of the pressure off his shoulders while complementing Wililams' game perfectly. Williams isn't a home run hitter the way Ford is, and together they'd make a really effective modern thunder-and-lightning combination.