Ahead of free agency, signs pointed to Nick Chubb remaining with the Browns as he continues to recover from the major knee injury which ended his 2023 campaign. That will indeed be the case, with team and player working out a revised contract for the upcoming season. 
The four-time Pro Bowl running back has agreed to a restructured deal, Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network report. Chubb has lowered his base salary ($11.78MM) for 2024, the final year of his contract. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler notes that figure will now check in at $6.28MM. His scheduled cap hit – $15.83MM – will unsurprisingly come down as well, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com adds.
Incentives are in place on this new arrangement, which will give Chubb the opportunity to earn back the $12.2MM in total compensation he was previously due. Much of his ability to do so, of course, will depend on when he is able to return to game action. Cleveland expects the 28-year-old to play at some point in 2024, and in the event that happens both sides will enter next offseason with more clarity regarding his future in the organization.
The high cap hit the Browns were set to carry in the final year of Chubb’s deal led some to speculate he could become a cut candidate. However, the team has remained confident the former second-rounder can return to his pre-injury form upon receiving medical clearance. Chubb has undergone two operations aimed at repairing the damage done to his MCL during Week 2 of the 2023 season. Prior to that injury, he had generally been healthy throughout his career.
The Browns’ run game is at its best with Chubb in the picture, and the team took a step back in production on the ground without him last year. Cleveland was not among the big spenders at the RB spot during free agency, but both pass catcher/returner Nyheim Hines and journeyman D’Onta Foreman have been added on one-year deals this offseason. They will join incumbents Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong in the backfield to start the season.
Cleveland entered Thursday with $3.9MM in cap space, one of the lowest figures in the league. The Browns’ financial situation remains tight in large part because a new restructure has not been agreed to with quarterback Deshaun Watson; the latter is set to carry a cap hit of $63.77MM in 2024 as things currently stand. While it will be interesting to see what happens in Watson’s case, Chubb’s immediate financial future has been clarified.
This Steelers fan hopes that Chubb comes back 100% if not even better, even against my team. Chubb plays the game hard, always, and he’s as quick to credit teammates for his success as he is to cut back through the line. For my money, he’s probably the most complete back in the league if not the best.
Chubb has only scored 3 TDs against your Steelers in 10 games so I can’t help but be a bit cynical when I see those best wishes…lol.
Given the injury he suffered against the Steelers—and grotesque doesn’t begin to describe it—I think you’re off base here, lemon. I agree with Monkey’s Uncle, that he comes back better than ever. My caveat would be, that he does so and still is held to negative yardage against the Steelers
Monkey is a good guy but I wonder if he would be extending good wishes to Chubb if he had ripped the Steelers for say 12 TDs instead of 3…lol. I also wonder why Chubb would be willing to take a roughly 46% pay cut if his rehab was going well.
I think the rehab is iffy until he’s taking hits in practices and games, to be truthful. I’m sure even Chubb is resigned to that thought. To be truthful, the contract is quite generous given the nature of the injury
As for Monkey and most fans of intelligence, I don’t think anyone wants to see competitors who leave it all out there exit in such a way.
I see it the other way, I would think Chubb would be more willing to bet on himself earning that money back if he thought he could come back and be what he used to be
Depends, of course, and you may be right. But given what is still transpiring with running back salaries, I have to think he believes even this is a win and a strong comeback equates to a nice payday moving forward.
I don’t know if Chubb had 3 TDs against Pittsburgh or 33 when I wrote that. I like watching him play football
How does incentives factor in against the cap? Let’s say two players earn a total of $5 mill in incentives, does there team have to have $5 mill in cap space?
*their
Might be they just push it into the ‘void’ zone. One would expect some such with Watson 63.77 gratuity payment for him being a glee club member of the franchise
So I went ahead and googled…. Pretty weird
How do incentives affect the Salary Cap?
Incentives are written into some contracts to pay a player for reaching certain performance criteria. Incentives come in two varieties – Likely To Be Earned (LTBE) and Not Likely To Be Earned (NLTBE) – each of which has different Salary Cap implications.
Likely To Be Earned Incentives (LTBE) are incentives based on performance levels that were reached in the prior season. LTBEs count against the Salary Cap in the year they are scheduled.
For example, if a RB ran for 1,200 yards last year and he has an incentive that will pay him $100,000 if he runs for 1,000 yards this year, the incentive would be a LTBE Incentive and would count against the Salary Cap this year.
On the other hand, if the RB ran for 1,000 yards last year and he has an incentive that will pay him $100,000 if he runs for 1,200 yards this year, then incentive would be Not Likely To Be Earned (NLTBE) and would not count against this year’s Salary Cap.
If the player does not earn a LTBE Incentive, then the amount of the incentive ($100K in our example) will be credited against the following year’s Salary Cap and the team would have $100K in additional Cap space in the following year.
The opposite happens with NLTBE Incentives. If those are earned, they are charged to the following year’s Salary Cap. In our example, that would mean that the team would have $100K less in Cap space the following year.
Thanks for the clarification