CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns are set to take on the Arizona Cardinals at FirstEnergy Stadium Sunday afternoon, but they'll be doing so without their star running back after ruling out Nick Chubb with a calf injury.
Chubb sustained the injury towards the end of the Chargers game.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski said he won't go past the upcoming game in terms of ruling out Chubb and that they'll monitor his injury after Sunday.
Against the Chargers, Chubb led the game in rushing with 161 yards on 21 carries, which includes his 52-yard touchdown.
He reached the 4,000-yard milestone in the game, now sitting at 4,080 career yards.
While the Browns can usually be confident in the other half of their dynamic rushing duo, Kareem Hunt has been listed as questionable to play with a wrist/knee injury, only returning to practice on Friday. With Chubb officially out, it's likely Hunt plays but, as Stefanski said, it won't just be on Hunt to carry the load in Chubb's absence.
"I think anytime you're without a player of Nick's caliber, guys have to step up," Stefanski said. "It's never one person that replaces Nick Chubb. Obviously we feel real strong about Kareem and what he's capable of but guys have to step up."
The Browns have running backs D'Ernest Johnson and Demetric Felton on the roster to back Hunt up as well as John Kelly on the practice squad.
In addition to Chubb, the Browns also ruled out linebacker Malcolm Smith who has been dealing with an abdomen injury.
The following players have been listed as questionable for Sunday's game against the Cardinals:
- DE Jadeveon Clowney
- RT Jack Conklin
- DE Myles Garrett
- CB AJ Green
- RB Kareem Hunt
- DE Takk McKinley
- CB Greg Newsome II
- C JC Tretter
- CB Denzel Ward
- LT Jedrick Wills Jr.
Clowney was listed as inactive for the Chargers game with a knee injury during warmups after having deal with an elbow injury the week prior. Conklin is dealing with a knee injury, Garrett is dealing with knee and ankle soreness, Green is dealing with a shoulder and knee injury, McKinley is dealing with an ankle and knee injury, Newsome is still working to return from the calf injury, Tretter is dealing with a knee injury, Ward is dealing with a neck injury and Wills is still dealing with an ankle injury from Week 1.
Cleveland has a short week after Sunday's game as they host the Denver Broncos for Thursday night football after playing the Cardinals on Sunday, so health will clearly be a point of emphasis for the team this week and coaches and staff will have their eye on every player working through any kind of injury as they continue developing their game plan.
Camryn Justice is a digital content producer at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Twitter @camijustice.
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