Cleveland Browns: Rookie of the Year for 2018?

The player that stands out as the candidate to be the best rookie for the Cleveland Browns and potentially be in the mix for Offensive Rookie of the Year is Nick Chubb.

The Cleveland Browns made one of the biggest splashes in the 2018 NFL Draft, getting two of the top four overall picks, as well as four of the top 35. But the player that looks poised to make the biggest impact as a rookie is the one they took last out of those four. Nick Chubb, the running back out of Georgia has franchise talent and the Browns should be geared toward an offense that puts him in a position to excel early.

Baker Mayfield isn’t likely to make a big impact as a rookie and the Browns, at least for now, would really prefer he not see the field at all as a rookie. In the event he were to be started immediately, the Browns do have the talent to help him be successful as a rookie, but a big part of that success likely would include Chubb.

Denzel Ward is almost a lock to be a starter out of the gate, but plays an incredibly difficult position to adjust to as a rookie. The success of his former teammate Marshon Lattimore may skew people’s expectations, but rookie corners tend to have peaks and valleys. The fact he does play with good technique should help in making that transition, however, but the learning curve certainly favors a running back.

Austin Corbett, should he be able to win the starting left tackle job, could have a major impact as a rookie. It will be virtually impossible for him to play quite as well as Joe Thomas did his rookie year where he immediately stabilized the position, cemented a strong offensive line which helped power the Browns to a 10-6 record.

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The challenge for Corbett is that he would be tasked with filling Thomas’s shoes. He could come in and vastly outplay Spencer Drango, who filled in after Thomas’s season-ending injury last year, but he would inevitably be compared to the soon to be Hall of Famer. Thomas, by contrast, came in and stabilized a position that hadn’t been effectively addressed in any of the years dating back to 1999.

The edge goes to Nick Chubb for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, he’s incredibly gifted physically with a tremendous combination of size, strength, speed and balance. The speed people wondered about him getting back from his knee injury seemed to have returned, first at the combine and then at minicamp.

His feel, intelligence and vision for the position is remarkable and in college, he played like a back beyond his years for Georgia. He processes information quickly and reacts accordingly, able to find the hole and accelerate through it with ease and immediately get to the second level.

Appearing to be truly back to being the special player that looked like a first round lock as a sophomore in college, Chubb plays the game at an incredibly high speed, especially compared to Carlos Hyde, who is more of a plodding, three yards and a cloud of dust type back. The problem for Hyde is that Chubb is almost the same size and plays with tremendous strength in his own right.

Chubb is a decent blocker, but has a lot of room to grow there to get better. If he’s able to improve in that area, it will only make it easier to put him on the field in any situation. Combine that with effort to improve as a receiver, which is an area Georgia barely used him and his contributions on offense can increase – especially with offensive coordinator Todd Haley that loves the screen game and the Browns have a line well equipped in that area.

Freddie Kitchens, the Browns new running backs coach and assistant head coach, may have tipped the team’s hand with just how pleased they are with Chubb when he said would go with the ‘hot hand’. The Browns have three backs that figure prominently in the discussion with Carlos Hyde signing as a free agent and Duke Johnson with his extension done.

Knowing Duke’s role in the offense, it would at least seem the hot hand comment would be aimed at the other two, opening the door for Chubb to get carries. Then Chubb may be able to get the hot hand that lasts for pretty much the entire season and Hyde is ultimately released.

Chubb may not do enough to even warrant consideration for the league’s offensive rookie of the year, but he is likely to make the biggest impact in terms of the Browns and their particular crop of rookies. If he has a good season, it will make a huge impact on the Browns offense, giving them the balance they desperately lacked in 2017. That, combined with more stable quarterback play and what the team hopes is a stacked group of receiving threats could vault the offense forward.

As a result, it’s difficult to count Chubb out entirely. If he stays healthy and gets the touches, he could be in for a huge year. The additions to the roster as well as what’s already in place could enable him to have a hugely productive year along the lines of Kareem Hunt did last year — maybe not lead the league in rushing, but a huge season where people must take note of who he is.

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Given Chubb’s talent, it’s not surprising that he went 35th overall given how running backs tend to be picked, but it was a surprise that Rashaad Penny and Sony Michel went ahead of him and he was the fourth running back taken overall. And that looks it could be a coup for the Browns who were thrilled to be able to select him.

It would be a surprise if Chubb isn’t the most impactful rookie on the Cleveland Browns this year, but he might just be able to do a whole lot more than that and be one of the most impactful rookies in the entire class. That portends good things for a franchise that at least appears to be heading in the right direction and this could help them jump start the process of becoming a legitimate team in the NFL that can play meaningful football into December.