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Nick Chubb was once on pace for a possible Hall of Fame-worthy career
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- Nick Chubb was once on pace for a possible Hall of Fame-worthy career
Nick Chubb was once on pace for a possible Hall of Fame-worthy career originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
In 2022, Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb was building a path to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. A city that was just 59.5 miles away from the city of Cleveland. Him getting to Canton to put on those iconic gold jackets seemed less of an "if" and more of a "when" type of situation. After all, Chubb was on an all-time tear through the first five seasons of his career. He averaged 5.0 yards or more every season from his rookie year in 2018 to 2022, while becoming a four-time Pro Bowler and being named to 2022 second-team All-Pro at his position.
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Heading into 2023, he had rushed for 6,341 yards and 48 touchdowns and was closing the gap on franchise legend Jim Brown. He only needed 5,971 yards to break Brown's franchise record, and was the only player in modern club history who was actually making a case for surpassing it.
He started the 2023 campaign on an all-time tear, posting a yard-per-carry average of 6.1, while setting a pace to finish the season with over 1,800 rushing yards. Then Minkah Fitzpatrick hit Chubb low, tearing his ACL and MCL on a play many still deem dirty to this day. The injury was devastating and rendered Chubb a shell of what he used to be.
He would play another season in Cleveland and a second-and-final season in Houston for the Texans . During those two years, he'd rush for 838 yards and six touchdowns, averaging just 3.7 yards per carry. He was clearly not the same before the injury, and it was obvious.
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The injury ruined his chase for Canton's famous gold jacket, and now that his career is done for good, as he just recently retired, the odds of him ending up a Hall of Famer are next to zero. According to Pro Football Reference's Hall of Fame Monitor, Chubb has no real shot of making the Hall of Fame.
They use a score to measure the likelihood of players going into the Hall of Fame, and the average score for a Hall of Fame running back is 106, but usually anything higher than a 68 will get you in. Hall of Famers Paul Hornung, John Riggins, and Roger Craig all being around that mark, or slightly higher. So it's possible to still get in if you're hunder the 106 average.
Chubb, however, is only at 28.08. Modern players like Larry Johnson, D'Angelo Williams, Ricky Williams, and DeMarco Murray all have higher scores and aren't in. One could argue those men are far from deserving a spot in Canton and Chubb falls short of them according to this metric.
While Canton may not call to enshrine Chubb, Cleveland most certainly will.
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Despite not being a football Hall of Famer, there's every likelihood that he ends up an official Browns legend and a member of their Ring of Honor. He's third all-time in rushing yards for Cleveland and has had one of the best five-year runs in club history regardless of position. It may not be a gold jacket, but being remembered forever as a star for the club you helped turn around the fortunes of isn't a bad consolation prize.
