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CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Browns have listened to calls from Kareem Hunt to “please pay this man,” meaning his good friend and fellow running back Nick Chubb.
They agreed with Chubb, 25, to a three-year contract extension on Saturday worth $ 36.6 million, including $ 30 million in total guarantees, cleveland.com confirmed. The deal includes $ 20 million fully guaranteed. Josina Anderson initially reported it was close, and sources told cleveland.com they have been getting closer to him for about three days.
The extension keeps Chubb in Cleveland until 2024, when he turns 29 in December. The new fund average of $ 12.2 million ranks sixth in the NFL.
“Please pay this man,” Hunt said last month at his youth football camp at Willoughby South High School, where he played soccer. “He’s a freak of nature. And he’s a brother to me, and I love what he does on and off the pitch. Just a great person and a teammate.
The Browns feel the same about Chubb, their No.35 second-round pick of 2018 from Georgia and two-time Pro Bowler.
“I think you all know the affinity we have for him both as a player and as a person,” Browns general manager Andrew Berry said in March.
“He’s the most valuable team player,” coach Kevin Stefanski said last season.
Browns goalie Joel Bitonio sang Chubb’s praises on Friday.
“He’s just a special guy, man. Like great teammates in my eight years here, Nick Chubb is one of them, ”Bitonio said. “He’s doing everything right off the pitch, on the pitch, you never hear him complain or really never hear him at all.”
“[It’s] His strange ability not to get tackled. It’s broken tackles, stiff arms, juke, finishes, speed, he does a bit of everything. and you really know what you’re going to get because there are times when he can crush someone or crush someone. There are other times he runs on the sidelines. ”
Chubb is the first of four big expansions the Browns have worked on, including those of Baker Mayfield, Denzel Ward and Wyatt Teller. Mayfield and Ward have had their fifth-year options for 2022, and Teller is heading into the final year of his deal.
“I think with [Chubb] and Kareem, the more we are called, the more chance we have to lean on defense, so there will be a greater chance of breaking them. I know a lot of those yards came from big runs to end the game. He’s just a special guy, man.
“It’s special to block for this guy and Kareem too. It will be tough, but let’s get another 10 yards per carry in the fourth quarter this year, and we’ll be in a good position.
Chubb, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract, made it clear last month that he did not want to leave Cleveland, which has become his second hometown.
“I don’t like uncertainty, and I know here in Cleveland what I have with the players and the coaches,” he told the minicamp. “This is the city of Cleveland, and I don’t know how it will be anywhere else. So Cleveland is where I want to be and that’s my main goal – to be here in Cleveland. “
Chubb, who racked up 1,067 yards and 12 touchdowns in 12 games last season while missing four with an MCL sprain, admitted it would mean a lot to be here in the long run.
“Cleveland drafted me many years ago, trusted me and trusted me to come here and help build this culture of this team that I was a part of,” he said. . “I feel like, yes Cleveland is where I want to be and I hope everything can work in that direction.”
According to Pro Football Focus, Chubb is the NFL’s No.4 running back as the season approaches. Over the past two seasons, he has the best broken tackle rate in the NFL, with 124 of 488 carries.
“I hope we can pick up where we left off,” he said. “We had a great team last year and we did some great things. It’s still a process. We can’t come in here and get too far ahead of ourselves. We have to keep taking it day in and day out, play by game and keep improving in all areas. “
He said he trained this season with the aim of becoming “bigger, faster, stronger”. He also worked even harder on his hands after losing back-to-back assists in the 22-17 loss to the Chiefs in the divisional round.
Chubb and his good friend Kareem Hunt both failed to hit their goal of running 1,000 yards, but part of that was because Chubb missed all four games. Hunt finished with 841.
“Yes, I still think there is more we can do,” he said. “Kareem is a great teammate and a great player. Every year it’s great to go play with him. Every year is a chance for us to go there and show how we can continue to be a dynamic duo every year. “
Chubb took to heart Stefanski’s tenure last season to sit down with the Chiefs’ loss in the divisional round and use that as motivation to move deeper into the playoffs this year.
“I hope we can pick up where we left off,” he said. “We had a great team last year and we did some great things. It’s still a process. We can’t come in here and get too far ahead of ourselves. We have to keep taking it day in and day out, play by game and keep improving in all areas. “
Arguably the best pure runner in the NFL, Chubb has traveled 1,000 yards in each of the past two seasons and has only missed four times in his rookie year after first eclipsing the milestone in the final game. , then lost yards on a run.
In the 48-37 victory over the Steelers, Chubb totaled 145 yards on 22 touches, including a 40-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that helped seal the victory.
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