Could Nick Chubb Return To Cleveland Browns In 2025?

Browns star running back Nick Chubb is set to become a free agent this offseason after suffering a season-ending foot fracture late in the season

Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb warms up before an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Huntington Bank Field, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio. / Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Nick Chubb's 2024 campaign came to a frustrating end when he fractured his foot during a Week 15 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs. It marks the second straight season that Chubb is coming off a season-ending injury and now the Cleveland Browns star is set to enter free agency for the first time in his career.

For the Browns, the upcoming offseason comes with plenty of questions about the future of the roster, including whether or not Chubb will be part of their plans. Speaking at his annual end of season press conference, general manager Andrew Berry at least kept the door open on a reunion with Chubb.

"It's always a challenging situation when one of your cornerstone players, their contract is up," said Berry. "That's probably, maybe a little bit the different situation this year, relative to last, where there is maybe perhaps a little bit less control on the club side with it. Those are all decisions that we do have to work through in the next several weeks."

One thing that certainly helps is that Berry and the organizations admiration for Chubb hasn't wavered at all.

"I think everybody knows how much respect that we have for Nick and how much appreciation we have for not just like his exploits on the field, but who he is in the locker room and who he is as a person," said Berry. " We love Nick. He's going to be a ring of honor player for us and we know that in terms of the short term, that's something that quite honestly we just have to work through over the next several weeks."

It's been a tumultuous year for Chubb, who suffered a gruesome knee injury in Week 2 of the 2023 season. He spent all of last offseason, then training camp and the first several weeks of the 2024 campaign working his way back to the field. After a long road of recovery, the 2018 second-round pick made his 2024 debut in Week 7 of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals, scoring a touchdown in front of the Cleveland faithful.

By the time he broke his foot eight weeks later, it seemed like he was finally building some momentum and showing some remnants of the player he used to be. While the broken foot was an unfortunate way for his season to end, his recovery will be much less cumbersome this offseason.

Big news from the Browns this morning, as Andrew Berry revealed that Deshaun Watson has suffered a setback in his recovery from a ruptured Achilles. https://t.co/LoK8hoEvBi

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A return to Cleveland may be more likely considering Chubb has expressed a desire to retire with the Browns. Those were sentiments he shared as recently as last month when he called himself a "Brown for life" at a holiday fundraising event. He later explained why he feels so strongly about finishing his career in Cleveland.

"I started here. I'd like to finish here. Cleveland just means a lot to me. Everything we've been through, ups and downs, but I'm proud to be drafted here," Chubb said later that week.

Time will tell if Berry and the Browns can work something out with one of their cornerstone players to keep him with the franchise for at least 2025. One things for sure though, it's hard hard to imagine Chubb playing anywhere but Cleveland.