Nick Chubb Fantasy: Browns HC Hue Jackson Wants to Feed RB

Getty Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb.

He got just three carries, but Nick Chubb busted out in Week 4 for what would have been a huge fantasy game had anyone been crazy enough to start the little-used running back. Fortunately for those fantasy football players who’ve been stashing the Cleveland Browns rookie, he might not be little-used much longer.

Comments from Browns head coach Hue Jackson suggest Chubb will start seeing a lot more of the field in coming weeks.

From Cleveland.com’s Dan Lebbe:

Hue Jackson was asked on Wednesday if there’s anything holding Nick Chubb back from getting more carries.

“No, just have to give him more carries,” Jackson said. “There is nothing holding him back. We just have to stick him out there.”

Nick Chubb’s Breakout Performance

The 35th pick of the 2018 NFL Draft has been on the field for just 15 offensive plays this season. But he made the most of his three snaps on Sunday, carrying three times for 105 yards and two very long touchdowns in a 45-42 loss to the Oakland Raiders.

“Unbelievable,” Jackson of Chubb’s performance, according to a Tuesday report from Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot. “He has to get some. Hyde is playing well, but this guy is scoring touchdowns from long ways away. I was impressed. I watched those two touchdowns on tape (Monday), and they were even better than they were on the field. He ran away from some people on the first one and ran away from some people on the second one. It just looked natural and easy. He was gone. They could not touch him.”

Nick Chubb Fantasy Outlook

Considering he has yet to carry the ball more than three times in a game, I wouldn’t go plugging Chubb into your flex spot just yet.

“We need to do a better job of making sure that he has a series or two each half and go from there,” Jackson added on Wednesday.

Starting running back Carlos Hyde has touched the ball 87 times this season to Chubb’s 10, and the veteran’s 83 rushes and five touchdowns lead the NFL. The rookie likely won’t take snaps from Duke Johnson, Cleveland’s receiving specialist out of the backfield, either; Chubb had just four receptions as a senior at Georgia, and five the year before that.

While Hyde has had his hands all over the ball and found the end zone a lot, he’s rushed for a subpar 3.4 yards per carry. That’s quite the drop from the 4.2 yards per carry he averaged behind some dreadful San Francisco 49ers lines.

To be fair, the Browns offensive line, thought to be solid but unspectacular heading into the year, has underwhelmed thus far this season. But if Chubb continues to find more room to run than does Hyde, the rookie could have half the team’s share of rushes per contest or more by the end of the season.

Plus, with Johnson serving as a pass-catching specialist, Chubb is in line to take the every-down role should Hyde go down with an injury.

If you’ve got the room for him on your roster, Chubb is a smart stash that could pay off in a huge way when the fantasy playoffs roll around.