Cleveland Browns: One to cut, one to extend, one on the bubble
By Randy Gurzi
One player to cut: Chris Hubbard
One move John Dorsey made in 2018 that hasn’t panned out yet is the signing of former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Chris Hubbard. A former swing tackle in Pittsburgh, Hubbard had a fan in former offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Still, Hubbard struggled in the Browns offense and hasn’t lived up to the expectations.
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Haley was fired after eight games, but that actually seemed to help Hubbard. With Freddie Kitchens taking over, the ball started coming out quicker and the team gave up five sacks as a whole in the final eight games.
Now in this season, the problems have started again for Hubbard. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), he grades out at just 49.9 which has him ranked 78th at his position. This is well below the 65.1 he finished with the prior year according to PFF.
In all fairness to Hubbard, the entire offense is struggling so his problems this year aren’t all on him. However, he was recently benched in favor of Kendall Lamm and when a player is set to count for $7.3 million next season (per OverTheCap.com), that can’t happen.
Not only could they potentially find a replacement who fits in the offense better, but Cleveland saves roughly $4.9 million by moving on from him. It’s never fun for anyone to lose a job but this one seems like it will likely happen.