If the NFL season were to start today, the Cleveland Browns would only have three running backs on their roster.
Given his past performances, Jerome Ford would presumably be their RB1, and Pierre Strong Jr. and John Kelly Jr. would follow on the depth chart.
Ford has certainly shown his worth as an NFL running back, but Strong and Kelly aren’t necessarily players that the Browns have a lot of faith in moving forward.
With that in mind, there’s a commonly held belief that the Browns will add more running backs over the next few weeks, whether via the draft or free agency.
Mary Kay Cabot talked about this in a recent article on Cleveland.com, noting that the Browns could reunite with Nick Chubb soon, finally re-signing him after several weeks of deliberation.
“Depending on how the draft shakes out and where Chubb stands when it’s over, the Browns might sign him soon after,” Cabot said.
Of course, if the Browns are bullish on a few prospects in this draft and take them in the fourth round or sooner, it could be bad news for Chubb, but if they wait, or don’t attack the position, as Cabot mentioned, Chubb should be in the clear.
The Browns need at least one more solid running back alongside Ford in this offense, and Chubb has already shown what he can do for this team, even after suffering a major injury.
It will be interesting to see if the Browns value youth over experience, and what they do in the draft should tell us a lot about how they want to build this team moving forward.