BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb suffered a season-ending knee injury on Monday night against the Steelers, landing him on the injured reserve list—but there were questions of how severe the injury was. It appears, after initial testing, the injury wasn't as traumatic as many feared.
MRI testing after some swelling went down showed that Chubb suffered a torn MCL in his left knee, which he will have surgery on next week, league sources confirmed.
Chubb suffered the injury in the first half of the game, rushing toward the end zone when he was hit awkwardly in the leg by Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, which was so brutal a replay couldn't be shown on the broadcast. It aired once inside Acrisure Stadium and drew a hush over the crowd.
The Browns star running back was carted off the field in agony. The injury was reminiscent of the one he sustained in college back in 2015, a full dislocation of his knee, which he had to have reconstructed after he tore his MCL, PCL and LCL. Chubb worked extremely hard to recover and did.
After seeing the injury happen, many held concerns that a similarly traumatic injury had occurred on Monday night. However, with just a torn MCL, this injury news certainly comes with a silver lining.
There is still significant swelling, and other ligaments were likely strained in the injury, but there's belief that the other ligaments remain intact.
A clearer picture will be made when surgeons are inside Chubb's knee to repair the MCL, sources said. A second surgery may be required to reconstruct damage if there is any found upon the initial procedure.
Chubb will have a long road to recovery after his surgery, but with the injury not appearing to be as severe as the one sustained in 2015, there's a better likelihood of his return to football after the procedures and a full slate of rehab.
His teammates are fully expecting that to be the case.
"Talk about a dude that come to work every day, put his hard hat on, go to work. He’s the model Cleveland Brown. Heart goes out to him and his family. It’s the second time having a crazy injury like that. He’s a model teammate and best back in the league for I don’t know how many years now. But he’s one of the hardest workers I know, the most humble guy ever. So he’ll be back for vengence next year, I’m sure. Shoutout to Chubb, man, the team is with you,” safety Grant Delpit said Thursday.
