After a season under the premier bell cow running back breeder, Gary Kubiak, Kevin Stefanski has moved on to be the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Moving from Dalvin Cook to Nick Chubb is a luxury few play callers have. Cook and Chubb are two of the premier running back talents in the game.
Chubb is one of the most pure, powerful runners to play the game in quite some time. In fact, he’s graded as PFF’s top RB in back-to-back years, largely due to his insane tackle-breaking ability; his 858 and 1122 yards after contact rank fourth and second across his two professional seasons.
Though most recognize Chubb’s ridiculous strength, few praise his equally impressive vision, intelligence, and decision-making. He sees running lanes and the second level as if a beat ahead of the defense, pressing the right hole and then making those one-cut-and-go moves that leave defenders in the dust. As Pete Smith describes: “For every tackle he actually breaks, he seems to simply take a defender out of the play with the right cut.”
Simply put: few backs can find the seam, and then turn on the tackle-breaking steam, quite like Chubb. This zone-blocking scheme is tailor-made to exploit these strengths. After falling just 45 yards short of Derrick Henry for the rushing crown, Chubb could easily lead the league in rushing for 2020 within this scheme. 1700+ rushing yards and 14+ TDs aren’t impossible, and Chubb, who finished as the RB7 and RB8 as the starter (Week 7 in 2018), should again finish within the Top-8 on his rushing stats alone.
