Cleveland Browns 2018 Draft Targets: Nick Chubb, RB Georgia

The Cleveland Browns need a running back, perhaps two. Nick Chubb appears to be back to full speed and has franchise talent.

When he took at the field at Georgia, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Nick Chubb would play three years and go to the NFL as the top back in the draft. A devastating knee injury that rocked the football world happened and there was talk that Chubb’s career might be over.

Two years later, Chubb looks to be the player everyone remembers and the Cleveland Browns could definitely use him.

Age, Measurables

Age: 22 years old (Born Dec. 27, 1995)

Height: 5-10.875
Weight: 227 lbs
40 Yard Dash: 4.52s
Broad Jump: 10’8″
Vertical: 38.5″
3-Cone: 7.09s
Shuttle: 4.25s
Bench: 29 reps

Chubb is a specimen. The  status and long term prognosis of his knee is something that each team will evaluate for themselves, but going from that to where Chubb is back to being one of the most physically talented backs in the class is remarkable. If there’s an area of weakness and it’s not so much weak as it’s just not as impressive as everything else, it’s Chubb’s hips as illustrated by the three cone.

Production

4,351 total yards (24.8 percent) and 40 total touchdowns (22.8 percent) in three full seasons. 4,769 rushing yards (6.29 yards per carry), 31 receptions for 361 receiving yards, 48 total touchdowns.

Despite the glut of extremely talented backs that Georgia has had the past several years, Chubb got a heavy workload and produced at a high level. And with having such young quarterbacks each of the past two seasons, defenses knew what was coming, tried to blitz the run as often as possible and Chubb produced anyway.

Blocking

Chubb seems to put in a decent amount of effort in blocking, but the results are pretty inconsistent. He hits the right landmarks and attacks the proper angle every time, but he struggles to stay on blocks. Chubb has experience both as a lead blocker and in pass protection. He’s a little more effective as a run blocker because once he has the angle right, the back he’s blocking for is generally going to get past him before he loses it.

Pass protection, Chubb will attack and block pass rushers the right way, but he doesn’t really move his feet and stick with them as well as he should. He basically gives his quarterback just a tiny bit more time than they would have had. The fundamentals are there and he just has to decide to finish.

Running Ability

Chubb has such a natural feel for the position, showing tremendous instincts for the position. He combines that with excellent technique, balance, vision and intelligence to make him a truly dangerous running back. Subtlety is such a key to his game and small moves have noticeable effects.

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Chubb understands what he is, which is a power runner with speed. He stays square to the line of scrimmage as often as he can to maximize his ability to drive forward and play with power. Chubb is difficult to bring down when opponents try to square him up as he can run through arm tackles or run over opponents and keep going.

The natural response from defenders is trying to go low and grab his ankles, which works. When he gets a head of steam going and anticipates going down, Chubb will basically lunge his shoulder pads forward and down, basically delivering a blow to guys who might attempt to go low on him. If they want to try to chop him down, he’s going to make them pay for it.

Chubb’s vision is excellent. He can see where blocks are going to be, has the patience to set up his blockers to be successful, improving his productivity and making it look easy. Along with that, he does a great job of manipulating free defenders to give him a read, enabling him to adjust and find the better lane, taking them out of the play. Chubb is effectively blocking one guy himself, which reduces the burden of the rest of the blocking scheme.

On quick hitters, Chubb turns on the jets and goes full speed through the hole. But on those plays that might develop a little slower or have multiple holes, Chubb shows great patience without being slow to the hole. He’s got a quick burst, so when he sees what he wants, he can attack it.

While Chubb is not ideally suited to turn the corner, he can certainly do it. Where he’s special is with his ankles. Up the middle, caught in traffic with little space to work, Chubb makes quick, shifty moves that enable him to sidestep opponents and find tiny creases to keep working forward. It also helps Chubb avoid taking the opponents’ best shot.

Chubb is faster than he looks and when he’s able to get opponents to set on him as a power back, he then uses his quickness to make opponents miss or simply outrun them. There are a lot of plays where he looks like he’s stopped or at least pinned in to where he sticks his foot in the ground, accelerates to full speed quickly and he’s able to break the big one.

Additionally, Chubb has worked out of shotgun, single back, two back, under center and wildcat formations. He’s done a little bit of everything in terms of blocking schemes, so he can step in just about anywhere and adapt quickly. He’s an artisan craftsman with the ball in his hands and understanding how to maximize his success and the contributions of his teammates.

If there’s a frustration with Chubb, it’s that when he gets hit in the backfield, too often, he goes down like someone chopped down a tree. Certainly, the goal is to avoid having him get hit in the backfield, but it’s going to happen and the results need to get better. Somehow he’s going to have to have to improve his stability fresh off of a handoff.

Chubb isn’t perfect but in returning for his senior year, he showed that his speed is back and he got more confident almost by the game. By the end of the year, he looked like the player that everyone thought would be the best back in the country when he stepped onto campus in Athens as a freshman.

Receiving Ability

A lot of people criticize Chubb as a receiver and it seems largely based on a lack of opportunities. After his freshman year where he caught 18 passes, he only caught 13 the rest of his college career. Perhaps Georgia’s coaching staff didn’t like him in that role, but it seems more a case of having other backs that were just a little better at it than Chubb, having them throw to those other backs and let Chubb be more of a pure runner.

Chubb isn’t a completely natural pass catcher who’s likely make plays in traffic or from awkward angles on a consistent basis, but if he’s open and the quarterback throws it to him, he’ll catch it and become everything he is as a runner, but in space.

Usage for the Browns

Chubb becomes the feature back and fills the role of the downhill, between the tackles runner that they’re losing in Isaiah Crowell via free agency. Chubb has much better vision than Crowell does, so he’s more versatile in terms of operating plays that have multiple options for holes as opposed to one predetermined one. He has the ability to take over a football game by himself or work in a tandem.

This style of back is the perfect compliment to Duke Johnson, who is a terrific receiving threat and change of pace in terms of running style and where his runs can go. It doesn’t mean that Chubb needs to touch the ball more than Johnson or Johnson more than Chubb. Their just roles and a team can run with the hot hand in a given situation.

Nevertheless, Chubb does have feature back talent and can be a chain moving, clock eating, game shortening back that can get into the end zone in the red zone or pick up first downs in short yardage situations. Chubb can also be a closer that just wears on a defense late in games.

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Draft projection as it relates to the Browns

Everything depends on how the Browns evaluate his knee, but if it’s healthy, the Browns could pick Chubb at 33 or 35 without a second thought. Beyond his health, the other factor that could change this outlook is simply the sheer number of talented running backs available in this draft. Depending on how teams evaluate them, Chubb might last as late as 64th pick or they can move up a few picks and grab him.