AFC Notes: Nick Chubb, Justin Fields, Browns, Ravens, Steelers

Browns

Browns GM Andrew Berry said RB Nick Chubb still has a “long way to go” with his rehab from a torn ACL. 

“He’s doing a really nice job in his rehab,” Berry said, via 92.3 The Fan. “Still has got a long way to go, but he’s progressing nicely given this point in time.”

Berry said they wanted to fortify the running back position with Nyheim Hines and D’Onta Foreman this offseason. 

“One of the biggest roster-building challenges is when you’re trying to plan out a position group when the availability of a player is unknown — whether it’s because they’re coming off a season-ending injury, whether it’s because they maybe have some injury history where you know they’re probably going to miss some games,” Berry said. “That can be really tough to plan around. In those cases, we usually plan pretty conservatively in terms of on the more negative side of the expectation for their availability, just because there’s more downside if you assume, ‘OK well they’re going to be on the front end of rehabilitation.’ And we’re going to build the roster that way and then you get surprised. A positive surprise is always a good thing. So you want to kind of plan conservatively, even if you know you’re being conservative in that way.”

Ravens

The Ravens lost QB Tyler Huntley this offseason and replaced him with QB Josh Johnson and 2024 sixth-round QB Devin Leary. Baltimore GM Eric DeCosta declared Johnson will be the backup as Leary develops.

“Josh will be the backup quarterback, and I think Devin will develop,” DeCosta said, via Dustin Cox of the Ravens Wire. “He’ll probably be the third quarterback this year in some way or fashion and grow into the job as we go.”

Steelers

With the new kickoff rules, teams will get creative with how to get the most out of the play. Steelers RB Jaylen Warren wouldn’t mind returning but also mentioned QB Justin Fields has come up as a potential return man.

“I would, I think it’s pretty cool — as soon as you touch the ball that’s when everything starts to happen,” Warren said, via Cam Heyward’s podcast. “Our special teams coordinator was talking about Justin Fields being back there. . . . We looked at him like, Justin Fields will be back there? I think it’s cool.”