NFL Trade Rumors: Cleveland Browns Running Back Nick Chubb Staying on Reworked Contract

Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb is staying with the team that drafted him. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the four-time Pro Bowler has agreed to a reworked contract that will reduce his 2024 base salary of $11.775 million.

The #Browns and star RB Nick Chubb have agreed on a reworked contract for 2024 to lower his base of $11.775M, sources tell me and @TomPelissero, with a chance to earn it back in incentives.

Chubb is working his way back from a serious knee injury, but isn’t going anywhere. pic.twitter.com/c6hr3wQeuE
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 11, 2024

Per Rapoport, Chubb will have an opportunity to earn the money back via incentives. Given that he was coming off a serious knee injury, it was fair to wonder if Chubb was a cut candidate. Instead, Chubb will remain with the team and play out the final year of his contract before hitting free agency in 2025.

Chubb has been one of the cornerstones of the Browns' recent resurgence, rushing for 6511 yards and 48 touchdowns since being taken 35th overall in the 2018 NFL Draft. He has finished third or better in total rushing yards in three separate seasons over his career, and he played a major role on the 2020 Browns squad that won the franchise's only playoff game since the 1994 postseason.

Still, the NFL is a ruthlessly cutthroat league, and with the running back market what it is, Chubb clearly found himself in a disadvantageous negotiating position. Rather than face a likely cold and unwelcoming free agency, he has elected to try and rehab his value with the team that made him a star. It's a good decision. A big season with the Browns will do more for his future (and his pocketbook) than starting over somewhere else.