The Browns and running back Nick Chubb worked out a win-win compromise, as Chubb entered the final year of his rookie deal.
Here’s a look at what he’ll get on the three-year extension, which puts him under contract through 2024.
1. Signing bonus: $12 million.
2. 2021 base salary: $920,000, fully guaranteed at signing.
3. 2022 option bonus: $3 million, fully guaranteed.
4. 2022 base salary: $1.213 million, fully guaranteed at signing.
5. 2023 base salary: $10.85 million, $2.866 million of which becomes fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2022 league year.
6. 2024 base salary: $11.775 million.
7. 2024 per-game roster bonus: up to $425,000.
8. 2024 incentive: $500,000 for rushing 1,300 yards.
The deal guarantees $17.133 million over the first two years. As a practical matter, $20 million is fully guaranteed — unless the Browns cut Chubb after 2021.
It’s a major investment for the Browns, more than I thought they’d make. The analytics-obsessed front office easily could have decided that, dollar for dollar, they’d be better off letting Chubb walk in free agency and drafting a replacement, especially with Kareem Hunt on the roster. For Chubb, he shifted the ever-present injury risk (especially at the running back position) to the Browns and got his financial reward.
Chubb comes in at No. 6 in new-money average, behind Christian McCaffrey ($16 million), Ezekiel Elliott ($15 million), Alvin Kamara ($15 million), and Dalvin Cook ($12.6 million). Joe Mixon and Aaron Jones fall to tie for No. 7 at $12 million per year in new money.