Nick Chubb is smiling again as his rehab from two knee surgeries advances to practice with his teammates. (TheLandOnDemand)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from Browns practice and interviews …
Now here’s another sign that Nick Chubb is pleased with the way his rehab is going.
He not only met the media for the first time since June minicamp, he smiled and even kidded with some answers.
It used to be torture for Chubb to stand in front of the cameras and microphones and talk about himself. But after what he’s been through since severely injuring his left knee on September 18, 2023, and having reconstructive surgeries in September and November, talking about getting back on the field was a pleasure.
“It didn’t feel real,” Chubb said of his first practice in 55 weeks. “Felt like a dream. I’ve been up and down at this for a while now, so it was great to get all that off my shoulders and finally get back out there.”
Chubb said he never had a date in mind to return to practice. “Whenever I felt good and was available, that’s when I wanted to be out there,” he said.
And that’s the same gauge he’ll use when deciding when he’s ready to return to a game for the first time.
The Browns have 21 days from Wednesday to decide Chubb’s roster fate for the remainder of the season. I asked him how many weeks of practice he needs to feel ready for a game.
“It depends on how I feel. They told me to take however long I need to. When I feel great, I’ll be out there,” he said.
On Thursday, he practiced in pads for the first time, which allowed for more contact, if no tackling.
“I’m looking forward to [contact],” Chubb said. “I told the defense that I’m up. I gotta get back in shape somehow. Our defense is a great defense, so it’ll give me all the looks and feels that I need.”
Chubb has been attending meetings since the offseason program started in April. His first practices under new running backs coach Duce Staley were eye-opening. “His individuals [drills] are non-stop, always moving, always straining, but that’s what we need,” Chubb said.
His observations on the sputtering “new” offense, which hasn’t scored 20 points in a game in the first month of the season?
“I see us hurting ourselves,” he said. “Make a big play. Penalty. Make a big play. Drop or interception. So I think it’s just us hurting ourselves.”
He marvels at Deshaun Watson’s attitude on the field through all the breakdowns around him.
“He’s a fighter,” Chubb said. “That’s one thing about Deshaun. He’s gonna go out and give it his all every time he steps on the field.I think we all need to do a little more for him and our team this week. Just make sure we’re prepared.”
He can’t wait for when he can be a part of that.
“I have to make sure I am who I need to be first. Yeah, I’m ready to get out there and help my team win,” Chubb said.
Bad break
Defensive end Alex Wright broke the news on his X account that he would have season-ending surgery to repair a torn triceps muscle. Wright wrote the injury first occurred in the joint practices with the Vikings in August, and he had an MRI after the Jaguars game. A subsequent MRI showed the partial tear had gotten worse and needed repair.
Wright, in fact, had the surgery in Dallas on Thursday. The Browns reported it was successful and a full recovery is expected by the start of the 2025 season.
Wright was the main backup behind LDE Za’Darius Smith. He scored the sack of Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence in the end zone for a safety.
His loss makes second-year end Isaiah McGuire the next man up. McGuire was credited with the strip of running back Zamir White in Las Vegas that was scooped up and returned for a touchdown by safety Rodney McLeod.
“We need him to [step up now],” said defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. “We need all hands on deck. We need everybody to play well and the greatest reward is the opportunity to do more and I think he’s earned that. He’s played physical football for us, he’s been slippery in his pass rush and he’ll get more opportunities.”
Sloppy, sloppy football
Schwartz was not happy with the sloppy tackling his defense displayed in the second and third quarters in Las Vegas. It has appeared in portions of just about every game.
“It’s probably more than just sloppy tackling,” he steamed. “We have generally been a couple series of sloppy play, and we shouldn’t have to get kicked in the teeth to start playing because when we do start playing, you know, whatever, the last two and a half quarters against Dallas, ridiculously … I mean, but you can’t erase those series before that.
Giants [game], fumble, punt, punt, punt, missed field goal, like really good stuff. And same thing with this [Raiders game], like getting the ball back for our offense, scoring on defense. But that gets erased by the sloppy play. And until we get that consistency, we’re going to play like a 1-3 football team and we’re playing like a 1-3 defense right now.”
Brownie bits
In this edition of ‘As the Tackles Turn,’ Jedrick Wills and Jack Conklin returned to practice as “limited,” and James Hudson (shoulder) did not practice …
Other DNPs were tight end David Njoku (ankle), linebacker Jordan Hicks (ribs, elbow, triceps), and Wright (triceps) …
Receiver Amari Cooper termed his game in Las Vegas, which featured a key drop that turned into an interception and an 82-yard catch-and-run for a TD called back by penalty “extremely devastating … sometimes I wish I could erase memories from my brain.” He said “I just didn’t squeeze” the ball that bounced off his chest. “Sometimes it’s the way the cookie crumbles … might not play good every week, but it’s all about the next week. You got to put things in the rear-view mirror and focus [on the next game], so that’s what I’m trying to do,” he said.