NFL First Thoughts: Cleveland Browns
Cleveland's offense will feature a lot more of Nick Chubb in 2023.
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There’s been a lot of talk about Nick Chubb this offseason. First and foremost, Deshaun Watson said he’s “going to get his carries, we’re going to feed (him), he’s going to get the ball a lot for sure, fans don’t have to worry about him being unhappy. We have the best O-Line group in the NFL, we want him to run behind those guys.”
Kevin Stefanski, head coach, endorsed him as well: “Nick will be a major part of our offense. We’re always trying to get the best version of Nick and he is always part of the plan. We want to make sure he’s fresh and active all season. He’s going to be a big part of our offense.”
Stump Mitchell, the running backs coach, said: “We want to press it with Nick … I think he has about 15 runs per year where he doesn’t press it enough as he can. We’re improving on that. If he can, he will lead the league in rushing. If we can improve on that, he can average maybe 6 yards per carry. He understands there’s big yardage we left on the field last year.”
Part of the issue last year with the Browns is it was essentially three seasons in one. You had the preseason, which was kind of a massive punt to try to get Watson acclimated, and he really struggled. So it never really got Jacoby Brissett in full rhythm. Then you had the four-week stretch to begin the season where the Browns were just trying to stay alive to be able to potentially still be in the playoff mix when Watson came back in the latter part of the season. They, of course, had some heartbreaking losses that derailed everything. There was the middle chunk of the season counting down the days until Watson took over, and then when Watson arrived, it was the Browns trying to figure out how to make it work with a focus on the next season.
The big thing that stood out was how often Stefanski used Watson under center. When we think about Watson when he was at his best in his career, we go back to Houston when he played more than 80 percent of his snaps out of the shotgun. He was very effective. Stefanski sort of forced him into an outside zone, under center, play-action scheme, which is great for a lot of quarterbacks. But for Watson, when he was under center 55 percent of the time, it just didn’t click. It forced inaccuracy issues for Watson and none of it looked comfortable.
This year, there’s going to be a change where Watson is utilized out of the shotgun a lot more. What that will change is Chubb going from an outside zone runner, to an inside zone runner, which is where he excelled in college. It’s also something that will be very beneficial for him, because you’re going to have the threat of Watson out of the shotgun, and he will use his legs more. This will allow Chubb to find more space.
Also, there’s no more Kareem Hunt in the backfield. He got 123 touches last year and took things away from Chubb in the red zone. Last year, Hunt had 25 touches compared to 41 for Chubb inside the 20. So a lot of those touchdown opportunities were taken away from Chubb, whereas this year, he’ll have a chance to cash in more frequently.
Something else you’ll see more of this year: More passes to running backs. We don’t see much of it in the Stefanski system, but not only has Watson mentioned that there will be more short routes to running backs, but we’ve heard it from Stefanski as well. Chubb himself has acknowledged it too.
All of these things are going to work really well together, help transform a Browns offense that rated 22nd last year, get them well above average. You should see a decent passing season from Watson, and Chubb will get a lot of carries—probably 80 percent plus inside the red zone—and all the scoring opportunities that come with it.
There’s a lot of upside this year for the Browns offense.