Nick Chubb to Miss First 4 Games in 2024 | GSMC Chip Shot Football Podcast

thank you for joining me back here on the gsmc Chip Shot football podcast just to quickly go over one of the last piece of news from this week it was announced by the Cleveland Browns that their star running back Nick chub will begin the year on the physically unable to perform list or the pup list for sure for short and that will mean that he will be forced to miss at least the first four weeks of the regular season and it's been almost a year since Nick chub has been on an NFL field you have to go back to last September in a week two game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh a night game I want to say Monday Night Football when I was watching it um just to paint the picture right I'm we're watching the game I'm Wasing the Browns March down the field they're on like the five yard line or something like that Nick chub is running it up the middle Minka Fitzpatrick meets him in the hole he goes low and Nick ch's knee just kind of gets jammed up it kind of hyperextends and you could just imagine how just gross it was in that moment seeing it um he didn't score then everything was paused obviously for a pretty bad injury luck luckily it wasn't so just gruesome because it did look bad when it did happen the the kind of impact that Minka made with his knee and everything like that and how it just kind of got stuck in the grass and he was carded off and whatnot and then it was later revealed that uh he tore his MCL he had a partially torn ACL so he missed the remainder of that year obviously and now a year basically later he is still not really back yet as you would expect dealing with that sort of injury and uh he is going to be forced to miss the first four weeks of the regular season which isn't ideal obviously but um it is what it is and I it is probably the best scenario right now for the uh the Cleveland Browns because you look at Nick chub a 28-year-old Nick chub still I believe not considered old for a running back I don't consider a running back old until he's like 30 or 31 at least but 28 and just based on what I've seen from Nick chub and I'll go more into that in just a second but um you know he has yet to practice with the Browns so far obviously so it was announced yesterday that he was going to be on the pup list and the earliest he can return turn from obviously those four weeks is on October the 6th when the Cleveland Browns visit the Washington commanders in week five but it could be a little bit longer you don't know how he is still going to recover from that knee injury what his level of preparedness will be by week four you hope that he comes back in week five but again that's just the minimum requirement it doesn't necessarily mean that they're projecting him to be ready by that time if that makes sense right that should just the rules that you have to follow with having a player start the year on the pup list so it could be longer um hopefully it isn't that much longer before we see Nick chub back on the field but um you know Cleveland will again have to depend on Jerome Ford a third year running back you know last year there was this sort of panic mode around having not having Nick chub actually there for the majority of the season but then you have this guy Jerome Ford come in and it did take a little bit of time to get you know into the groove of everything but um from just a stats standpoint in 2023 he recorded over 1,000 yards from scrimmage and you know he did play pretty well overall um albeit not to the same level of Nick chub but being able to make the playoffs and not drop such a massive amount of ability and talent and production you get from that position just because Jerome Ford did a very good job of stepping up and also this year uh in that running back room I'm sure they're going to rely on a guy like Pierre strong Pierre strong Jr Dante Foreman as well um are there in case Jerome Ford needs to step off for a player so I'm sure they're going to use all three of those guys Jerome Ford leading the way mostly so that's how the running back room is looking again not ideal you want to have Nick chub out there but I think they'll be just fine especially from what we saw last year and and how they are just talented on the offensive side of the ball with en joku Amari Cooper Jerry Judy now there um their offensive line is great as well they definitely have enough to get by especially with that defense that's um very good obviously and you don't have to score a lot of points when they're playing like that so that's a great luxury to have but going more into the schedule now and looking at the Gams that uh Nick chub could potentially miss I went up all the week all the way up to week eight um cuz I think that's worst case scenario for Nick chub yeah he might not be ready for week five but I think by week eight you'd like to have him at least be considered to play be questionable or something like that so looking at the games that the Browns have up until that point in week eight in their schedule Nick chub is going to miss the first game of the season obviously in Cleveland when they host the Dallas Cowboys then in week two they play at the Jacksonville Jaguars then in week three they play the New York Giants at home then week four the uh the last game that he is supposed to miss they're at the Las Vegas Raiders and then like we mentioned in week five they do play the Washington commanders and that's where I'll go up until now and you look at the games that he is supposed to miss in weeks 1 through four you look at the Dallas game that could go either way I might still give it to the uh the Cleveland Browns just because I not so sure about the Cowboys so playing in hostile environment right off the bat I think that could be a win for the the Browns and also week two the Jaguars are still a good team you know they started off the year hot last year at the beginning of it they were they were the number one team for a good amount of weeks to start the year last year in Jacksonville it's another one that could go either way honest ly um the big thing with the Browns to me is Deshawn Watson and how well he is playing or how bad he's playing um for the Browns but I'd like to think this is a win for the Browns just cuz again I like their team a little bit better than the jagar so we're going to go with a win there um then the Giants it's going to be a win in Cleveland that's enough of that then week four at the Las Vegas Raiders again it's another game where I feel like the Browns can win because the Raiders while it all while it is in Las Vegas they are at home you know Gardner muu what is that situation going to look like is their offense going to be running at a consistent uh level that is at least good enough to compete with the Cleveland Browns I'm not so sure about it I feel like that could be another win and then at Washington um could be a little bit tougher I think Washington could come out with that just because they can't start off 5-0 right off the bat yeah it's going to it could go either way but the commanders um I feel like they could get that one especially if Jaden Daniels plays to the level that we all expect him to that could be a win for the commanders and then you get into the next weeks where not only Nick chub could come back it is likely that he comes back but they're going to need him to come back just because in week six if he's not ready for the commanders week six they're at Philadelphia and that's a game that they could very well lose if they don't have the services of Nick chub with how good I think the the Eagles are going to be that could be a loss and then uh you host the Cincinnati Bengals after that and these division games are as much of a 50/50 especially in the AFC North as you can have so hosting the Bengals and how close those games are that could be another loss as well for the Cleveland Browns and then in week eight if you still don't have Nick chub you host the Baltimore Ravens in week eight and having Derk Henry Lamar Jackson coming in there with that offense it's going to be a nightmare for anybody to play so you'd like to kind of counter that with having your own great running game as well with Nick chub so they're going to need him to come back especially for those games week six through eight are pretty tough for them in terms of who they're playing and just the level of offense you're going to need in those games especially with how good the other team team's offense is but that is still down the line and hopefully Nick chub comes back by then I don't think it'll be longer than that I'll be shocked if it's longer than the first eight weeks um because then you start thinking it's a lot more serious than initially thought of but um just to kind of go over Nick chub you know the dominance that he brings a four-time pro bowler over 1,000 rushing yards in the last four seasons in a row from 2019 to 2022 obviously last season year he got hurtt 12 touchdowns rushing in 2022 which was also his best year of his career and rush for a career year as well in 2022 rushing over, 1500 yards that's the kind of level that you are missing if you're the Cleveland Browns but fortunately for them those first couple of games um the Giants the Jaguars even the Cowboys aren't too terrible for them to miss out on a guy like nck chub and you know we have seen him slowly get back into the gym some Reports say he has been on the field you know running some Sprints running around by himself and obviously it's still a long way to go from football shape but it is encouraging um for Nick chub to come back as soon as possible probably I would say by week six we should be seeing Nick chub back for the Cleveland Browns you don't want to rush him right but um there are some tough games in there that you want to have him back for obviously so you know Jerome Ford played better than most people thought they have a solid offensive line I think they're going to do just fine if anything the question is going to be Deshawn Watson because of just obviously not having Nick chub but if Deshawn's not playing at the level that you are paying him to play at um you're going to have even bigger problems on your hands than just when Nick chub's going to come back uh so that's pretty much it that's the update on Nick chub we won't see him for the first month of the season but hopefully for chub and the Browns he comes back rather quickly but that'll pretty much wrap it up on today's show thank you guys for hanging around for this last hour on the gsmc Chip Shot football podcast please remember to like follow And subscribe to the show as well as checking out the both YouTube channels the gsmc podcast and the gsmc sports network channels on YouTube to couch more content around this show in a variety of different forms on both of those channels and also um please remember to follow the network on all forms of social media and to catch more live episodes check out both channels each weekday at 6:30 p.m. eastern time for more NFL storylines discussions and covering everything there is to cover around football with me Manny Mara d as your host thanking you for joining me and I hope to see you back here again with me tomorrow [Music] let's go I wake up to a little bit of Drool on my pillow feel like it's going to be a bad day yeah I'm tired of and the coffee ain't hit yet damn ain't that great