Nick Chubb is speaking out for the first time since returning to the field

It feels like forever since Nick Chubb was a part of the general Browns discourse. Chubb tore his ACL in Week 2 of last season, and has since fallen out of the picture to a degree.

But for the first time in quite a while, Chubb is visibly back with the team during workouts. He even spoke to the media during minicamp this week, and touched a bit on what his last year has been like:

“I’m getting better every day, taking it day by day and getting better,” he said. “Yeah just right now, trying to get stronger ... I like where I’m at. I’m where I need to be, I would say that. The biggest thing for me is getting better every day.”

For running backs, knee injuries – especially like the one Chubb had, which required two separate surgeries – can be career enders. Even if they do come back healthy, a lot of times it takes even more time to get that explosiveness and confidence back. That's a lot of time that, frankly, running backs don't have the luxury of taking anymore. And it's something that Chubb admitted has weighed on him a lot of the past several months.

"It was tough," he said. "It's always hard not being able to play the game with your guys that you went through training camp with. Our team did a great job with no matter who went down, next man up ... I was down mentally for a while. When you get hurt it’s one thing. When you get hurt again and you already know what you have to go through, the entire process, surgery, rehab, it’s a non-stop battle every day. So my team did a great job of being there for me and I was around the building for them. They did a great job, made the playoffs, had a great run.”

Chubb said that there's still no timetable for his return, although he's progressing well and feels like he's exactly where he needs to be in the process. Even if that's not much as far as updates go, just hearing that Chubb is back on the field and feeling better is music to Browns fans ears.