Nick Chubb Top Landing Spots: 2025 NFL Free Agency Outlook

Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb doesn't seem likely to be re-signed by the Browns ahead of the 2025 NFL season. This is unfamiliar territory for the 29-year-old, who will turn 30 near the end of December this year, has spent his entire seven-year career with Cleveland, and was at one time regarded as one of the best running backs in the league. 

He amazingly averaged over 5.0 yards per carry in every season, and despite missing all of 2023 and much of 2024, he's now rushed for 6,843 yards and 51 touchdowns, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. These are ridiculous numbers, but the devastating knee injury that ended his 2023 season just two games in could mark the end of his dominant days. He also missed the last three games of 2024 after he suffered a broken foot.

Chubb's injury risk is very real, but he should still have some utility for a team in need of an RB, especially if he can return to even 80 percent of his pre-2023 form. Running backs tend to experience sharp declines in production into their 30s, but if No. 24 can get fully healthy and last another season, he could put up at least solid fantasy football production. So let's break down the top landing spots for Chubb ahead of the 2025 NFL season.

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Las Vegas Raiders

The Raiders didn't have much of a running game last season. After a "breakout" final few games of the 2023 year from RB Zamir White, Las Vegas signed RB Alexander Mattison and planned on operating a one-two punch committee backfield. It didn't work out, and White was absolutely terrible. Mattison wasn't much better, and RB Sincere McCormick outperformed both before getting hurt. Ameer Abdullah had some good fantasy performances as a pass-catcher, but wasn't an effective runner of the football.

#RaiderNation Of the RB’s still available, who would bring into compete and pair up with a rookie RB, cause we gonna draft one no doubt.

- JK Dobbins
- Nick Chubb
- Miles Sanders
- Rico Dowdle
- AJ Dillon

We still have McCormick, Zamir White on roster also.

— Raider_Vic (@Iamthe_victor) March 11, 2025

Another season was a complete offensive wash for the team, and their head coach, Antonio Pierce, was ousted after just one season and replaced by former Seattle Seahawks HC Pete Carroll. Chubb fits the "Raider Way", whatever that is. He's one of the NFL's premier "blue-collar" guys, the opposite of a diva, having had a career defined by toughness and resilience. He suffered a massive knee injury in college, and worked his way back from that to become one of the NFL's best backs.

Nick Chubb. GONE!!

92-yards to the HOUSE!#ATLvsCLE pic.twitter.com/AStCj4Mrc1

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 11, 2018

Since taking the starting job, he's handled huge workloads, exceeding 200 touches each of his first five seasons, exceeded 300 touches twice, and rushed for 1,000 yards in four consecutive years from 2019-2022 while logging 40 rushing scores over that span. He was the engine of the team's offense each of those years, consistently elevating his offense, sustaining drives by picking up first downs and setting up third-and-manageable distances. He was also a threat to take plays to the house, as you can see from the above clip.

Browns “fear” Nick Chubb is out for the season with knee dislocation and potential ligament damage, per @Schultz_Report pic.twitter.com/7gvu2vMb8S

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 19, 2023

Unfortunately, he'd probably have a much stronger market if it weren't for his injury. And it was pure bad luck. But the Raiders have an underrated offensive line that doesn't deserve much blame for the poor rushing production the team had last year.

If Vegas decides not to use premium draft capital on a running back in the 2025 NFL Draft, Chubb could find a nice home here and be a sleeper fantasy football pick for the 2025 season.

Washington Commanders

I originally expected the Commanders to choose a running back with their second-round pick. I think they have enough holes in their secondary and along the defensive line that it makes sense for them to try to address that, or load up on the offensive line, with their first-round pick. But they traded away their Round 2 selection to the Houston Texans in a deal for left tackle Laremy Tunsil, so that seems a bit less likely.

RB Brian Robinson Jr. was fine, but he typically starts seasons off hot, then fades back into mediocrity in the second half of the year. And his backup, Austin Ekeler, wasn't very effective as a rusher. Washington had a solid run-blocking unit, nothing special really, but the mobility and rushing threat of quarterback Jayden Daniels helps the team's RBs to be more effective, since defenses are forced to account for two effective rushers.

JAYDEN DANIELS ON THE RUN pic.twitter.com/FbpT0eQGAZ

— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) September 8, 2024

Chubb, if he's able to return to form, would present an upgrade over Robinson, who still hasn't eclipsed 800 rushing yards in a season, and often is dealing with injury issues. Kingsbury's run schemes have always been among the best in the NFL, especially how he handles block assignments. Despite having a mostly middling offensive line, the Commanders finished second in the league in ESPN's Run Block Win Rate metric, a statistic designed to measure the effectiveness of blocking.

Chubb could benefit from a team that's good in the offensive trenches. Last season, Cleveland ranked outside the top-10 in that metric, and film seemed to show that it was worse than that number makes them look. Though it does seem unlikely that Washington will opt to sign Chubb, as Robinson and Ekeler are still under contract through 2025, and third-string man Jeremy McNichols was just re-signed to a one-year deal.

Denver Broncos

The Broncos, unlike the Commanders, had zero effective running backs on their roster in 2024. Despite having one of the best offensive lines in the league, and one that was clearly at least solid as a run-blocking unit, RBs Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin, and Audric Estime failed to distinguish themselves from one another, and Broncos head coach Sean Payton tinkered with the usage of each to find the best balance of workloads to distribute. The correct answer was to use none of them, but that wasn't really an option.

#Broncos HC Sean Payton on must-adds this offseason:

“We need a joker.”

Payton said that could be a tight end or a running back who’s an elite receiver, and stated that he’s “all about” a Reggie Bush-type player

[🎥: @UpAndAdamsShow] pic.twitter.com/nUMpww8FCi

— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) February 5, 2025

So Denver headed into the 2025 offseason likely with ideas about a long-term solution in their minds. Chubb would be the best RB in this backfield from Day 1. Williams has already left the team, signing a deal with the Dallas Cowboys, Estime has a serious fumbling problem and isn't fast, and McLaughlin doesn't have the size or strength to deal with NFL-level tacklers. Chubb has no issues there, and also is much quicker than Estime.

Broncos current RB room:

Jaleel McLaughlin
Audric Estime
Tyler Badie
Blake Watson

Does it make sense to sign one of the cheap vets left on the market or do they just address the position in the draft?

— Trevor Judge (@TrevorJudge) March 11, 2025

If Chubb were signed, I wouldn't be surprised if he immediately were given a good-sized workload. Nothing McLaughlin or Estime has done compares to even half of one of Chubb's good seasons. So I wouldn't be surprised to see No. 24 succeed here, which is why the Broncos made this list!

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