Nick Chubb, who announced his retirement on Friday, ends his career as part of an elite group of running backs: He’s one of only four in NFL history who had more than 1,000 carries, and averaged more than five yards per carry.
Chubb retired with 7,349 yards on 1,462 carries, an average of 5.03 yards per carry.
Only three other running backs in the history of the league have reached the same 1,000-carry and 5-yards-per-carry milestones:
Jamaal Charles, who played for the Chiefs from 2008 to 2016 and then briefly played for the Broncos and Jaguars before retiring after the 2018 season, retired with 7,563 yards on 1,407 carries. His average of 5.38 yards per carry is the best of any running back who had at least 1,000 carries in NFL history.
Jim Brown, who played for the Browns from 1957 to 1965, retired with 12,312 yards on 2,359 carries. His average of 5.22 yards per carry stood as the all-time NFL record for decades.
Joe Perry, who began his career with the 49ers when they were part of the All-America Football Conference in 1948 (they joined the NFL in 1950) and played 14 seasons in San Francisco plus another two seasons with the Baltimore Colts, retired with 9,723 yards on 1,929 carries. His average of 5.04 yards per carry ranks just ahead of Chubb’s.
Chubb burst onto the scene as a rookie with the Browns in 2018, averaging 5.2 yards per carry, and he averaged more than five yards per carry in each of his first six seasons, until a devastating knee injury in 2023 changed the trajectory of his career — and dragged down his career average when he returned in 2024 and was not the same player.
Although Chubb’s career ultimately was too short to put up the kinds of numbers that would earn him entrance into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he had a spectacular career that puts him in some truly special company.
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