Nick Chubb: ‘Most elusive’ running back in the NFL

There are many great things about Cleveland Browns RB Nick Chubb. In many ways, and sometime this season officially, he is the team’s best back since the late, great Jim Brown. In most people’s opinion, Chubb is the best running back in the NFL and has been over the last few seasons despite never leading the league in rushing.

From an analysis perspective, Chubb also unites pretty much everyone. Everyone has nothing but praise for the former Georgia star. While other backs might get more rushing attempts, pass catches or touchdowns, Chubb has become the standard bearer.

While most would use the term “best” to describe him, it was interesting to see that Pro Football Focus also ranked him as the most elusive back in the NFL. Instead of looking at speed or ability in the open field, PFF’s “elusive” uses a few metrics that we can agree fit Chubb very well:

Chubb is the only NFL running back to rank inside the top three at his position (minimum of 200 carries) in both missed tackles forced per attempt (0.21) and yards after contact per attempt (3.81) since 2021. He has been a top-10 running back in fantasy points per game in each of the past four seasons, having posted more than 4,000 yards after contact in that span. The 27-year-old Georgia product has shown no signs of slowing down, even earning the highest rushing grade of his career (90.7) in 2022.

Whether it is on the field or in fantasy football, Cleveland’s running back makes the most of his carries. Rarely does Chubb get stopped behind the line of scrimmage and he is almost always going forward when he does get tackled.

Best, second most rushing yards in Browns history (after this season), humble, quiet and so many other words describe Cleveland’s star running back, today we add elusive to that list.