Nick Chubb injury: Latest updates on Browns star, who will miss rest of NFL season

Nick Chubb has suffered another serious setback.

The Cleveland Browns' four-time Pro Bowl running back sustained what was later confirmed to be a season-ending knee injury during the second quarter of Monday night's 26-22 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Chubb was carted off and quickly ruled out for the remainder of the contest after taking a hit from safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Chubb immediately grabbed his knee after the 5-yard run and remained on the ground after the play − which ESPN officials refused to show a replay of given the injury's grisly nature − and players from both teams gathered around him before he was taken off.

Steelers fans chanted Chubb's name as the ball carrier was taken off the field.

Chubb had 64 yards on 10 carries before exiting.

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Here's the latest on what we know about the injury:

Latest Nick Chubb injury update

Browns coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed Tuesday that Chubb would miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury, though he would not reveal specific details of the diagnosis.

"I think that's one of those things, really with surgery, you'll get a better story on what it was," Stefanski said Tuesday. "You know, disappointed. I can't say it enough. I know our team feels that way. I know our fans feel that way. And I know Nick, when you guys get to talk to him, will say the same thing. We got to move on, and we got a big one this week. We'll miss Nick. OK. And we will support Nick, but we're moving on to Tennessee."

Chubb was taken to a local hospital but headed back to Cleveland after being released, Stefanski said Monday.

Browns star defensive end Myles Garrett was frank in his assessment of what Chubb's loss meant for the team.

"It (expletive) hurts," Garrett said in his postgame news conference. "That's our brother. That's my brother. ... It's a blow for the whole team, and we don't want his injury to be in vain. We gotta push on."

Nick Chubb injury history

Monday night's injury came nearly eight years after Chubb suffered a gruesome injury to the same left knee as a sophomore at the University of Georgia.

On Oct. 10, 2015, Chubb was hurt on the first offensive play of the Bulldogs' game against the University of Tennessee. The diagnosis: a dislocated knee, three torn ligaments (posterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral and lateral collateral) and cartilage damage.

"I remember how it felt when it happened," Chubb said in a 2016 ESPN story about the injury. "There was a tingling feeling in my leg. My body went forward, and my leg went backward. I knew something was wrong."

After extensive rehab, however, Chubb returned the next season and rushed for 1,130 yards and five touchdowns. He bested those figures as a senior, running for 1,345 yards and 15 touchdowns as Georgia won the Southeastern Conference but fell to Alabama in overtime in the national championship game, before becoming a second-round pick of the Browns in the 2018 NFL draft.

"Malcolm Gladwell wrote about outliers," former Georgia director of sports medicine Ron Courson told ESPN in 2016. "Nick is an outlier. He's genetically gifted. He has a tremendous work ethic, and he's as mentally tough as anyone I've ever seen. I'm not surprised he's back."

Chubb also sprained the MCL in his right knee in 2020 and missed four games while on injured reserve.

Nick Chubb injury reactions

As soon as Chubb went down, active and former NFL players voiced their support for the Browns running back as they wrote messages on X, formerly Twitter.

Browns' options at running back after Nick Chubb's injury, including Kareem Hunt

On Tuesday, Stefanski said that former backup Jerome Ford would take over as the lead back.

After Chubb's injury on Monday night, Ford stepped in as the go-to option for Stefanski's ground-heavy attack. Ford, who was a fifth-round pick out of Cincinnati last year, notched 106 rushing yards on 16 carries, with the bulk of his production coming on a 69-yard run in which he reversed field for the big gain. He also reeled in a 3-yard touchdown catch and finished with three receptions for 25 yards.

"You don't replace Nick Chubb," Stefanski said. "You just don't do that. Great players in the league, you look around, they go out. It's always not one person that replaces a player of (Chubb's) caliber. So, everybody's got to do a little bit more, a little bit more everywhere."

Pierre Strong Jr. also barreled in for a goal-line touchdown and had 1 yard on two carries.

On Tuesday, however, the Browns hosted Kareem Hunt on a visit. Hunt, 28, played for the Browns from 2019-22, serving as a complementary back to Chubb.