Browns running back Nick Chubb is expected to begin the regular season on the physically unable to perform list, ESPN reported Monday.
The move was expected and would bump Chubb’s earliest possible 2024 regular-season debut to October.
However, the Browns are getting back offensive tackles Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills off the PUP list ahead of Tuesday’s roster cutdown, according to multiple reports.
Also Monday, Cleveland.com reported that rookie DT Mike Hall Jr. will be placed on the Commissioner Exempt List on Tuesday for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
Chubb, 28, had surgery last September for a torn left MCL and meniscus, followed by surgery to repair his torn left ACL in November. He sustained the injury in Week 2 last season against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He had major surgery on the same knee in 2015 while playing at Georgia.
Jerome Ford is prepping to again fill the No. 1 RB role. Chubb did not play in the preseason and spent training camp on the PUP list as well.
Players who begin the regular season on the PUP list are required to sit out a minimum of four games.
Chubb made four consecutive Pro Bowl teams (2019-22) and rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of those seasons, including 1,525 in 2022.
Since being selected by the Browns with the 35th overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, Chubb has run for 6,511 yards and 48 touchdowns in 77 games.
Conklin and Wills both suffered season-ending knee injuries last season and have yet to practice at all this summer. Conklin is expected to be ready for Week 1 and Wills is a possibility, per reports.
Also coming off the PUP or non-football injury lists are DT Dalvin Tomlinson, CB Greg Newsome II and S D’Anthony Bell.
Hall was arrested earlier this month following a domestic altercation in Avon, Ohio. Police said that Hall, 21, was booked on a first-degree misdemeanor domestic violence charge. ESPN said bond was set at $10,000, with a hearing scheduled for Sept. 10.
Being on the exempt list means Hall won’t count against the Browns’ 53-man active roster while his case works through the legal system.
Hall, an Ohio native who played three seasons at Ohio State, was selected by the Browns in the second round (No. 54 overall) of April’s draft.
–Field Level Media