The Browns send a strong message about Nick Chubb’s comeback effort.

The Cleveland Browns are pleased with Nick Chubb’s improvement, but the star running back’s comeback date remains uncertain.

Chubb was injured on a low hit against the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 18, only two weeks into the season. The knee injury required two surgeries, the most recent of which occurred in November.

Chubb still has some challenges to overcome, but Browns GM Andrew Berry is optimistic about his improvement.

“First of all, nobody wants to bet against Batman. Nick is a special player and a special human being. He is doing well on his road to recovery but he still has a long way to go.” Berry said during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. “This past month he actually started running on land.

“After he got hurt he kept his routine like he was preparing for a regular season game. There has been no offseason for (Nick) and he is very determined to get back.”

Chubb appeared to respond to Berry via social media, sending a photo of Batman healing. It’s encouraging for the Browns that their superhero running back is on track to return to the field next season.

Browns RB Nick Chubb Plays on Restructured Deal

In April, the Browns and Chubb reached a reworked agreement. He took a significant pay cut but can recoup it through incentives. He’s guaranteed just more than $2 million next season, down from $11.75 million.

Cutting Chubb may have resulted in additional cap savings for the Browns. However, keeping the four-time Pro Bowler in the Browns jersey was a priority this offseason.

“I won’t comment in detail on the contract, other than to say that I think that whenever you go through a situation like that, I think people think it’s easy for a club, an agent, to be adversarial,” Berry stated in an interview on April 18. “And, you know, with Nick’s situation, I really applaud Nick and then his reps, Todd France and A.J. Stevens, for being really collaborative partners and finding a solution that worked for everybody.

“You know, I think everybody in this room is happy that Nick is back as a Cleveland Brown and we’re very optimistic that he’s going to crush the rehab.”

Browns Are Confident in Their New-Look RB Group

This offseason, the Browns added to their running back room in case Chubb is unable to play in Week 1. Cleveland added two veterans: D’Onta Foreman and Nyheim Hines. The team also signed undrafted free agent Aidan Robbins. They’ll be joining Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong Jr. on the depth chart.

“One of the biggest roster-building challenges is when you’re trying to plan out a position group when the availability of a player is unknown — whether it’s because they’re coming off a season-ending injury, whether it’s because they maybe have some injury history where you know they’re probably going to miss some games,” Berry said. “That can be really tough to plan around. In those cases, we usually plan pretty conservatively in terms of on the more negative side of the expectation for their availability, just because there’s more downside if you assume, ‘OK well they’re going to be on the front end of rehabilitation.’ And we’re going to build the roster that way and then you get surprised. A positive surprise is always a good thing.

“So you want to kind of plan conservatively, even if you know you’re being conservative in that way.”

Chubb’s remarkable performance on the field is nearly impossible to replicate. He has 6,511 running yards and 48 touchdowns in 77 games.

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