BEREA, Ohio — From the moment Nick Chubb stepped onto the field in Cleveland, he fell in love and the city fell in love with him.
A hard-nosed, no-nonsense running back who didn't need to celebrate his accomplishments, who would find the end zone and hand the ball right back to the ref before casually jogging to the sideline.
"How I approach the game, I’m a very routine guy, and I did things the same every single day. I prided myself on being consistent, being disciplined, and everyone saw that with the way I practiced, with the way I played, how I worked out, how I trained, and I think everyone admired that about me, respected that from me," Chubb said.
Chubb was a consummate professional, and he became a beloved face of the franchise for seven seasons. Now, after a year away and a retirement announcement this offseason, Chubb has signed a one-day contract with Cleveland to officially hang up his cleats as a member of the Browns.
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The four-time Pro Bowler has the third-most career rushing yards in franchise history, behind only Leroy Kelly and Jim Brown, with 6,843. Chubb posted 51 career touchdowns with the Browns, with five more receiving touchdowns. He was known for his strong stiff-arm you didn't want to be on the receiving end of and his ability to find the gaps against the most sound defensive fronts.
Of all the stats and experiences, there is one memory that stands out to Chubb.
“It was great to beat Pittsburgh in the playoffs. I think that whole COVID year was a mess, but that season was very fun to me, and I think just that season as a whole was probably my favorite memory," he said.
Chubb was on pace to break more records and have more success with the Browns until the knee injury he sustained in the devastating Monday Night Football game against the Steelers in 2023 changed his trajectory.
“All I can do is just accept that it happened and move forward. I think everything happens for a reason, and I don’t know what that reason is yet, but I plan to find out here in the future. And everything in my life that’s happened to me, I’m trying to take something from it. And that night, I took something from that too. And I’m blessed to be able to be back up here in front of you guys and to be able to walk and still run. And I played for two years after that and I don’t think that injury really sums up my career," Chubb said.
Chubb returned in 2024, and while a foot injury ended his season early, he returned to football in 2025 for a final season—albeit with the Houston Texans.
After turning 30 in December and then entering free agency after the season with Houston, Chubb decided that he had given all he had to the game, and it was time to do something else with his life. No longer on the Browns, Chubb found peace walking away from the game.
In a full-circle moment, Chubb returned to Berea, walking through the doors of the facility to cheers from the entire building, and signed a contract. While he joked that he might have "two plays in him," Chubb didn't sign the contract to return to football, but rather to say goodbye to it as a member of the team that drafted him in 2018.
Chubb's one-day contract was inked, and he officially retired as a member of the Cleveland Browns on Friday.
It was a full-circle moment to end his career in the city he fell in love with, and that fell in love with him, eight years ago.
"I think just coming in, back in 2018, I got drafted. I wasn’t sure what I was coming into because the team had just gone 1-15. At that time, Cleveland wasn’t the team everyone talked about. And so, when I got here, I realized that what people on the outside thought was completely wrong about Cleveland; it’s a special place, and you got to be here to see it." Chubb said. "The people, the team, the organization, the fans, just everybody a part of the city makes it special.”
