Top Free Agent Landing Spots For RB Nick Chubb

Through the first five years of his career, Nick Chubb had a legitimate claim to the title of best running back in the league. He never dipped below 5.0 yards per carry and had seasons of 996, 1,494, 1,067, 1,259, and 1,525 rushing yards, to go with 48 touchdowns in that span. His lowest PFF grade was an 81.8, and the Browns signed him to a contract extension in 2021 as a cornerstone of the offense.

That all changed in the second game of the 2023 season, where a routine red zone rush turned into a disaster. Chubb’s leg got stuck in the turf on a tackle and he tore his MCL and severely damaged his ACL. It took multiple surgeries to repair his knee and he missed the first six games of the 2024 season.

When he did return to the field, he wasn’t the same player. His 3.3 yards per carry and 57.5 PFF grade were both career lows by wide margins. Chubb will turn 30 towards the end of the 2025 season, which is already on the older side for a running back. It takes a special level of talent for a back to maintain a dominant force this late into his career, and while Chubb certainly fits the bill, his injury complicates things.

Still, we’ve seen players have bounce-back seasons an extra year removed from serious injuries like the one Chubb suffered. It’s possible he’ll be closer to his old self in 2025, though the fact that no team has signed him yet indicates there isn’t a ton of optimism for that league-wide. At this point, Chubb is likely looking at a committee role as an early-down chain-mover, someone to handle the smaller share of a workload focused on short-yardage situations and neutral game scripts.

The Browns selected two running backs in this draft, Quinshon Judkins in the second round and Dylan Sampson in the fourth. Both were consensus top-five backs in the class per the media big board, and with their reconstructed depth chart, the Browns have largely ruled out re-signing Chubb. If he is to play this season, it’ll probably have to be elsewhere. Here are some of his options:

Chubb, 29, was drafted by the Browns in the second round out of Georgia in 2018. He was entering the final year of a four-year, $7,383,094 contract when Cleveland signed him to a three-year, $36 million extension back in 2021. 

The Browns restructured Chubb’s contract last April, lowering his cap hit in 2024 from $15.85 million to $6.275 million.

In 2024, Chubb appeared in eight games for the Browns and rushed for 291 yards on 93 carries (3.1 YPC) to go along with three touchdowns.

We had him included in our Top 100 Available 2025 Free Agents list. 

New Orleans Saints

Alvin Kamara is the undisputed leader in this backfield, but the Saints lack significant depth behind him. Third-year back Kendre Miller has flashed, but suffered a major injury as a rookie that limited him as a sophomore. With just 304 career rushing yards, relying on him to shoulder a large role is a risk. Rookie Devin Neal and former Chief Clyde Edwards-Helaire are also in New Orleans, but Neal was a sixth-round pick and Edwards-Helaire didn’t play at all in 2024 and is several years removed from his last noteworthy season.

Adding a bruiser like Chubb to complement Kamara makes a lot of sense on paper, especially considering the state of this offense. Rookie second-rounder Tyler Shough will compete with 2024 fourth-round pick Spencer Rattler for the starting quarterback job after Derek Carr’s retirement, and neither should be expected to carry the offense in 2025. With the Saints’ top two receivers — Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed — both working with injury questions heading into summer, the offense might be best served running through the ground game. If first-round OT Kelvin Banks Jr. plays well as a rookie, New Orleans could have one of the better offensive lines in the league.

Even Kamara might be slowing down just a bit. The former All-Pro had over 1,400 total yards last season, but ranked just 24th in PFF grade among running backs. He’s entering his age-30 season, and asking him to handle the expanded workload he saw a year ago might not be best for the longevity of his career. Adding Chubb to handle some of the dirty work could extend Kamara’s career a bit, and it would add another weapon to a lacking Saints offense.

Chicago Bears

One of the more surprising results of the 2025 draft was the Bears not selecting a running back until the seventh round, where they took Kyle Monangai out of Rutgers. The board didn’t fall in their favor, with Ashton Jeanty being snatched up by the Raiders several spots ahead of where Chicago picked at No. 10, and a run on backs early in the second round meant they had limited options when they were on the clock at No. 39.

Still, it leaves running back as the most obvious need on this Bears roster. D’Andre Swift was brought over from Philadelphia in 2024’s free agency, but his impact was limited in part because of poor offensive line play. Behind him, Monangai will compete with Roschon Johnson for the primary short-yardage duties, as both are bigger backs who operate best in a phone booth. Johnson will likely win that spot and serve as Swift’s primary backup, but he hasn’t stood out so far in his two-year career. Even in his current state, Chubb is likely an upgrade over Johnson and Monangai, and would complement Swift well. Between the two of them, they’d create a solid two-headed monster in the Bears’ backfield.

Denver Broncos

Second-round pick RJ Harvey is the new leader in the Broncos’ backfield. The former UCF Knight is an explosive downhill runner who can go from 0-100 in an instant and routinely makes defenders look silly with his cuts. Between his home-run ability and utility in the receiving game, Broncos HC Sean Payton likely sees Harvey as his Kamara-equivalent in Denver, after coaching Kamara in New Orleans for the bulk of his career to great success.

But Payton also usually employs a running back-by-committee approach, and his options on the depth chart behind Harvey are uninspiring. Audric Estime and Jaleel McLaughlin provide different skillsets, but neither has established themselves yet. McLaughlin is an analytics darling but seemingly hasn’t earned the coaching staff’s trust for a larger role. Meanwhile, Estime came on late as a rookie and flashed some potential, but there’s inherent risk going into the season with him as your RB2.

If Denver signs Chubb, he’d project to take over the RB2 role from Estime. Both players serve similar functions in the offense as between-the-tackles runners who can grind out tough yards and earn goal-line and short-yardage work. Chubb is much more established than Estime and another year removed from his injury, the potential for a larger impact is there.

Other teams to watch: Cincinnati Bengals, New York Giants, Minnesota Vikings