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Ezekiel Elliot, Todd Gurley, and Saquon Barkley are considered some of the best running backs in the league but Pro Football Focus has someone else at the top of their list for the 2018 season, Nick Chubb of the Cleveland Browns.
Nick Chubb was certainly impressive in his debut season with the Browns, topping the league's running backs in overall grade pic.twitter.com/0jh3QWNwE1
— PFF (@PFF) May 20, 2019
PFF gave Chubb a rating of 87.5 last year which is top in the league. Derrick Henry, Melvin Gordon, Barkley, and Chris Carson rounded out their top five.
Chubb was drafted in the second round by the Browns and early in the season, he didn’t get a ton of run because Carlos Hyde was in front of him on the depth chart. Once Hyde was traded away it was Chubb’s team and he impressed rushing for 996 yards and eight touchdowns.
Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield is impressed with Chubb’s work ethic but most importantly he is impressed with his want to win.
“He just works really hard,” Mayfield said according to Steve Doerschuk on CantonRep.com. “He cares about winning more than anything. He had 1,000 yards and lost it. He didn’t care about that. He cared about the fact that we lost the last game of the year.”
Chubb is heading into the 2019 season as the lead back, at least for the first eight weeks. The Browns signed Kareem Hunt who was released by the Chiefs after a video surfaced of him pushing and kicking a woman.
Hunt is suspended the first eight weeks of the season but once he returns he is expected to be a big part of the offense.
Chubb and Hunt could become quite the one-two punch for years to come.