Cleveland Browns: Comprehensive 2018 NFL Draft review
By Peter Smith
Nick Chubb, RB Georgia
Rumors were buzzing about the Browns interest in Nick Chubb leading up until when the second began and they went ahead and grabbed him with the 35th pick in the draft. Chubb went from being a no doubt first round pick in college to the knee injury where many thought his NFL career prospects were largely gone to almost finding his way back into the first round.
Athletic Profile
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
Nick Chubb is a ridiculous athlete. After suffering a horrifying knee injury, he came all the way back and tested on an elite level. His strength, speed, agility and balance are all at a high level. When history says a running back only really needs to have one elite athletic trait, Chubb has all three with room to spare.
Production
Career Games: 47
Total Yardage: 5,150 yards (23 percent)
Rushing Yards: 4,789 (6.29 yards per carry)
Receiving Yards: 361 on 31 receptions
Touchdowns: 48
Even with all of the running backs that have been coming through Georgia the past few years, Chubb was still the man. After Todd Gurley suffered his own unfortunate knee injury, Chubb took over and never looked back. Backs like Sony Michel were added to the mix, but Chubb was always their featured guy.
His production is at a multiple Pro Bowl level and shows Chubb more than capable of being a franchise running back.
Game Tape
Chubb is a tremendously gifted, nuanced runner. He has great vision, patience, instincts and intelligence for the position. Able to set up blocks and manipulate unblocked defenders, Chubb is able to create a lot of plays for himself and reduce the workload on the blocking scheme.
From a physical standpoint, Chubb is powerful, has good speed and great balance. He does his best work between the tackles, but he can run outside as well. For the most part, Chubb likes to stay square to the line of scrimmage and use jump cuts or sidesteps to line himself up where he wants to push forward.
Chubb does a nice job of avoiding opponents’ best hits, finding where there’s the least resistance and pushing on it to drive the play forward. The issues for Chubb are largely caused when he gets hit in the backfield. He tends to not see it coming and goes down too easily.
Chubb isn’t a great receiving threat, but Georgia just didn’t use him very much in that capacity after his freshman year. He’s not likely to make too many acrobatic catches but if the quarterback puts the ball on Chubb, he’ll catch it.
As a blocker, Chubb hits the right landmarks and attacks the proper angles of opposing pass rusher, but he doesn’t finish. There’s a lot to like about his fundamentals but he has to follow through better than he has.
Fit, Usage and Projection with the Browns
From the moment Chubb’s name was called, he was the most talented runner on the Browns roster. The Browns are saying the right things about how he’s going to have to earn it, but it stands to reason he’s going to win the job as the primary runner.
Duke Johnson continues to do Duke Johnson things and that gives them a very dynamic one-two punch with Carlos Hyde as a nice reinforcement for running between the tackles and fighting for tough yardage.
The Browns finally get a back that looks like he can be special between the tackles, owning that part of the field and someone who shouldn’t leave yards all over the field. Chubb has star power and could be a great runner for the Browns and the combination of Chubb and Johnson could be a dynamic duo.