Kareem Hunt will offset Nick Chubb injury for Browns

The Cleveland Browns are fortunate to have Kareem Hunt backing up Nick Chubb.

Not many teams can lose their starting running back and be in as good of shape as the Cleveland Browns are. Lost in the zaniness that was their Week 4 road victory over the Dallas Cowboys was Nick Chubb going down with a knee injury. He has been placed on IR, but with a designation to return. He’ll miss about a month and change, but look for Kareem Hunt to not skip a beat.

The Fantasy Footballers feel considerably better about Chubb’s injury than what the Los Angeles Chargers‘ Austin Ekeler suffered in Week 4’s road loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His inability to get on the cart due to his painful hamstring injury illustrates this may be more of a significant lower-body injury than what Chubb had to leave the game with vs. the Cowboys.

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So while Hunt is almost certainly not available on the waiver wire to pick up, he’s going to see his fantasy football value in the coming weeks go off the charts. It’ll be reminiscent to that magical year he had with the Kansas City Chiefs before domestic violence led to him being released from the team. Now with an even bigger opportunity, look for him to take full advantage of it.

Kareem Hunt has a chance to soar up fantasy football running back rankings.

Though Chubb is a certain RB1 in any fantasy league, the gap between him and Hunt is largely inconsequential. Hunt would be the starting running back on more than half the teams in the league right now. He plays in the perfect offensive system to get the most out of his talent as a tailback. Look for Kevin Stefanski to keep feeding him the rock to keep winning ball games.

If there is something else to keep an eye on regarding the Browns’ potential offensive adjustments, it may mean quarterback Baker Mayfield gets to throw a little more. He does have plenty of excellent receiving options in Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry and tight end Austin Hooper. However, he won’t throw it anywhere near what he did when he played at Oklahoma.

Because the Browns offense is so incredibly ground-centric under Stefanski, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Hunt go over 100 rushing yards in a game a few times before Chubb returns from IR, hopefully some time in November. By that time, Cleveland might be on the precipice of clinching its first playoff berth since 2002, the second since coming back into the league in 1999.