Report: Nick Chubb suffered torn MCL, recovery time slated for 6-8 months

Nick Chubb received some good news in regards to his knee. His ligaments aren’t as mangled as first feared.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday that Chubb tore only his medial collateral ligament. That’s the ligament on the inside of his knee. Schefter said the projected recovery time is between six and eight months.

Browns’ RB Nick Chubb is believed to have suffered only a torn MCL, per sources. His pre-surgery, projected recovery time is 6-8 months, per sources.https://t.co/4Kg7RGCUkL

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 23, 2023

Nick Chubb, the former Georgia star, suffered the devastating knee injury during a game, Monday night, against the Steelers. Chubb was at the end of a five-yard run when he was hit by Steeler star Minkah Fitzpatrick. The injury was too gruesome for ESPN didn’t show it on replay. There was initial speculation that his knee injury was so severe that he may need two surgeries to repair everything he tore. Chubb suffered a major injury to the same knee in 2015 when he was nearing Herschel Walker’s rushing records at Georgia.

However, ESPN reported that doctors do not believe that Chubb tore his ACL, which is the most critical ligament needed to stablize the joint. Surgery is likely to happen this coming week.

With Nick Chubb out, Browns will rely on Jerome Ford

Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski spoke to the media Tuesday, confirming that his star back was out for the season.

“As you know, you don’t replace Nick Chubb,” Stefanski said. “You don’t do that with great players in the league. You look around, (when) they go out, it’s always not one person who replaces a player of his caliber. Everybody’s got to do a little bit more, got to do a little bit more everywhere. But we’ll look at options there in terms of who we’ll bring in.”

With Nick Chubb on the injured reserve, the Browns signed Kareem Hunt, they’re former running back, to a one-year deal worth up to $4 million. Jerome Ford will likely be first-team running back. In relief of Chubb, Ford rushed for 106 yards in an eventual, 26-22 loss to the Steelers.

Chubb’s fans at Georgia are also still with him. Coach Kirby Smart said he reached out to his former tailback.

Smart said: “I know he’s probably been flooded with all kinds of people reaching out to him. (I have) a lot of respect for him and what he did for this program in terms of toughness, buy-in, (and) giving back. He decided to come back when he did… he certainly did UGA a favor returning. What an outstanding year he had when he did.”