After selecting Quinshon Judkins 36th overall, the Cleveland Browns seemed set with a potentially running back room featuring Nick Chubb, Jerome Ford, and Judkins. Chubb is still a free agent. But, it's hard to imagine Chubb playing for anyone else. He should be a Cleveland Brown for life.
Unfortunately, that possibility is feeling less and less likely. After the Browns selected Dylan Sampson out of Tennessee, it became clear that the Browns were looking to lean into their run game but had clearly added one too many running backs for the current room's makeup to make sense. And, Chubb feels like the most likely odd man out in this equation.
That's a sad thought. Chubb, who had apparently been having dialogue with the team leading up to the draft, remains un-signed despite there begin some obvious interest in getting a deal done. Judkins was a pick that would make sense to add next to Chubb. Sampson, on the other hand, creates a situation where the team is leaning into two promising rookies in anticipation of Chubb leaving.
Sampson pick spells doom for Chubb's chances of re-signing with Cleveland
Sampson and Judkins are lightning and thunder. Judkins will pound the field, run downhill all day, and eat tackles left and right. Sampson, on the other hand, is methodical and has speed to back up his processing on the field. Both were scoring machines in college, which was a major area of struggle for the Browns last season (tied for 2nd to last in NFL in rushing touchdowns scored in 2024).
Now, we have a great look at the Browns' running back room for 2025. It likely is made up of Sampson, Judkins, and Jerome Ford. Chubb, Nyheim Hines, and D'Onta Foreman, as a result of these picks, seem to be on the way off the roster. With no real quarterback solution identified in the draft, either, it seems like this draft strategy - leaning fully into running - was intentional.
Chubb is the obvious saddest potential loss here. Maybe he does re-sign, and the team tries to make a trade work with Ford to land him with a team that'll hand him starter's snaps. But it's really starting to feel like a true rebuild is in the works for 2025, and Chubb is a likely casualty.