Longtime Browns Player Finds New Home in Free Agency

Player tracking is a massive part of the offseason experience for most NFL enthusiasts. Not only is it fun to track which players your favorite team adds (either via free agency or the draft), but it can also be an interesting exercise to see what a franchise's former players are up to.

Several former Cleveland Browns have found new homes this spring and Chris Hubbard is the latest of the bunch. After spending his entire NFL career on the East Coast, the 33-year-old offensive tackle will be playing out west on his latest contract.

Browns News: Former OT Chris Hubbard Sign with 49ers

On Tuesday, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported that Hubbard is joining the San Francisco 49ers on a one-year deal ahead of the 2024 NFL season. The former UAB blocker spent the 2023 campaign with the Tennessee Titans following five years with the Browns.

Hubbard first cracked the NFL as an undrafted rookie for the rival Pittsburgh Steelers in 2013. He decided to leave the Steel City after just four seasons, opting to sign a five-year, $37.50 million with the Browns in March 2018. He was Cleveland's starting right tackle for the first two years but saw his opportunities diminish as his injuries piled up.

While he was never the best at his position during his time with the franchise, Hubbard did provide the Browns with some decent protection. He averaged a 71.3 pass block grade on Pro Football Focus throughout his first three years in Cleveland and only surrendered 12 sacks across over 1,300 passing downs during that stretch.

After spending all but one game of the 2022 campaign on the injured reserve, Hubbard joined the Titans on a one-year deal last offseason. He immediately became Tennessee's starting RT, too, but that didn't last long as a biceps injury forced him to miss the final seven games of the year.

It's going to be interesting to see how much Hubbard has left in the tank. The Moberly, MO native's career has been ravaged by injuries to the point where he's only played in 14 of a possible 51 regular-season games since the beginning of the 2021 campaign.

Still, Hubbard was solid whenever he could play for the Titans last year. He only allowed 18 total pressures while playing to 64.1 run block and 67.8 pass block grades across nearly 500 blocking downs.

While that wasn't his greatest performance, those were his best grades since the 2020 season, suggesting that he isn't washed just yet.

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