Browns RB Nick Chubb will need ACL surgery after all, elongating return timeline

The initial reports on the season-ending knee injury for Cleveland Browns superstar running back Nick Chubb were encouraging, with the hope that he might have avoided needing surgery on his ACL.

But when doctors went in to do his MCL surgery this week they found that Chubb will, in fact, need another round of surgery to repair his ACL.

It was initially believe that he had only "stretched" the ACL joint, but that ended up not being the case.

The Browns said in a statement on Saturday that Chubb should be able to return "at some point" in the 2024 season.

The "some point" timeline is not exactly encouraging for Chubb and the Browns because it almost guarantees he will not be ready for the start of the 2024 season and it could be pretty far into the season when he is actually able to get back on the field. 

Chubb was injured in the Browns' Week 2 "Monday Night Football" loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers when safety Minkab Fitzpatrick hit his leg on a play near the goal line. It resulted in Chubb's leg being bent in a way legs are not supposed to bend. It was pretty clear at that moment that he had suffered a significant injury that was going to sideline him for at least the remainder of the season. 

The only question was the extent of the damage. 

As it turns out, the damage is quite extensive despite the early optimism. 

The concern for Chubb and the Browns is that he is going to turn 29 next season and will be trying to rebound from a significant injury. 

The 29-30 age range is when top-tier running backs normally start to slow down, anyway, and now Chubb has to add in the injury to that equation as well. 

He has been one of the best running backs in the NFL from the moment he arrived in the league, but there is now significant reason to believe he might never play at that same level ever again.