Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb returned to practice on Wednesday for the first time in more than a year and issued a message in kind as he nears the end of a long and painful road.
Chubb took to Instagram on October 2 following his first day back, posting a four-photo gallery with a simple, seven-word caption.
“How much harder do I gotta go… 🦇,” Chubb wrote, including the bat emoji as a nod to his “Batman” nickname.
He added another six words in the third photograph, which depicted the Hope Memorial Bridge and its iconic Guardians sculptures. In the shot was a billboard on the right side of the bridge that read, “Welcome to Cleveland.”
“Until I get everything I deserve?” Chubb posted on top of the image.
Nick Chubb Accepted Significant Pay Reduction to Remain With Browns After Injury
GettyCleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb.
Chubb’s level of introspection isn’t hard to believe given the 13 months he has spent rehabilitating a catastrophic knee injury that required two surgeries to fix. And that isn’t all that the running back has had to face over the last year-plus.
That Chubb would return to Cleveland at all wasn’t a given after the injury because of his contract situation. He signed a a three-year, $36 million extension in July 2021 and is now playing in the final year of that deal.
However, Browns general manager Andrew Berry eventually spoke with relative openness about the team’s need to rework Chubb’s contract to avoid cutting the RB while he was in the midst of trying to make a comeback.
“I won’t comment in detail on the contract other than to say that I think that whenever you go through a situation like that, I think people think it’s easy for a club and agent to be adversarial,” Berry told reporters on April 18. “And with Nick’s situation, I really applaud Nick and then his reps, Todd France and A.J. Stevens for being really collaborative partners and finding a solution that worked for everybody. I think everybody in this room is happy that Nick is back as a Cleveland Brown and we’re very optimistic that he’s going to crush the rehab.”
Chubb did more than just collaborate, though — he agreed to a $9.5 million pay cut down to just $2.275 million, only about $2 million of which is guaranteed. The team included an incentive structure that allows Chubb to make most of that money back by hitting statistical benchmarks, but doing so will be difficult after missing approximately half the season.
Browns Have Successor for Nick Chubb in Jerome Ford
GettyCleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb.
The Browns and Chubb have not made public in which contest he might return to game action.
That said, Chubb still has a good deal of incentive to get back on the field as soon as possible and play well when he does. He turns 29 years old in late December and will be an unrestricted free agent in March if he doesn’t agree to a new deal with the Browns.
Cleveland has Jerome Ford on a rookie contract and playing in his third season, which gives the franchise a built-in successor should it part ways with Chubb following this year.
Chubb is a four-time Pro Bowler who has racked up more than 6,500 rushing yards and 48 TDs in 77 regular-season games. He’s also caught 123 passes for 1,011 receiving yards and 4 scores.
Chubb has spent his entire seven-year NFL career in Cleveland.
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Browns RB Nick Chubb Drops 7-Word Message Upon Return to NFL