After eight seasons in the NFL, four-time Pro Bowl running back Nick Chubb announced his retirement on Friday. Chubb, who spent the 2025 season with the Houston Texans and the rest of his career with the Cleveland Browns, rushed for 7,349 yards and 54 touchdowns, adding 141 catches for 1,109 yards and five touchdown catches. Chubb earned an estimated $38.8 million in NFL salary during his career. Chubb posted the following heartfelt goodbye to his career on his personal Instagram account.

“Today’s the day I’ve been avoiding for a while. Twelve year old me could never imagine this day, and 30 year old me is wondering where all the time has gone. I’ve known for some time now, but I’m finally ready to share that I’m done playing football. I wanted to end my career on a healthy note, along with a winning season, and I was able to do that. At the beginning of this journey, I made many promises to myself. The #1 promise I made was that I would always stay true to who I am and never forget the things that made me, me. That promise meant always being the hardest working person, no matter where I was or what the circumstances were. And that started in Cedartown, Georgia.

“My mom and grandma instilled discipline and responsibility … me at a young age. They taught me that there’s a right way and a wrong way to do everything. There’s no in between. Laying concrete with my dad during those hot Georgia summers also played a part. That taught me how to push through pain and how to be a man. Up at the high school, my coaches held me to the highest standards and demanded the best out of me every single day. This is where I realized I could become a good football player simply by outworking everyone.
All of these things, people, and experiences helped shape me into who I am today. But I also made promises to myself that I wasn’t able to keep. Like all competitors, I wanted to be the best. But not just the best… Unequivocally the best. No question, the best.

“In college, I wanted to win the Heisman, become an All American, and win a National Championship. In the NFL, I wanted to lead the league in rushing, win MVP, and win a Super Bowl for the city of Cleveland I wasn’t able to accomplish any of those things. And what’s most frustrating, but also gives me peace, is that I know for a fact I gave it my all. I know I put myself in the right position to achieve all of those things. But it just didn’t happen for me. I know there’s a deeper meaning in that, one that I hope to understand someday. But if not, I’ll understand that it’s just life. Dealing with injuries was something else that wasn’t part of the plan. The only thing I could control after hurting my knee twice was getting back up, getting back to work, and getting back on the field. And I was able to do that both times.

“But I will tell you, going through a devastating knee injury: 4/5 is a lot different than going through one at 28. At UGA, when it first happened, I was young, naive, and didn’t fully understand the extent of the injury. believe that played a part in me being able to bounce back and eventually return to form. At 28, it’s different. You understand that you have the rest of your life to look forward to. And that’s exactly what I started to do. I say this to all my brothers still on the field, still in the heat of It: There’s a life waiting for you after football, too. And health is the real wealth. I end my career in a great place. Even though there are some things I wish had happened differently, I can say that I have no regrets.

“Football was a huge blessing in my life. It opened so many doors, gave me opportunities I never could have imagined, and allowed me to meet some amazing people. I’m grateful for everyone I crossed paths with along the way, and I promise I took something from each of you. Thank you to my teammates, my coaches, the fans, my family, my friends, and anyone who ever cheered me on. Twelve year old me could have never imagined where this game would take us. But 30 year old me can look back and say we gave it everything we had. Till the day that I die, it will always be:
GO DAWGS.
GO BROWNS!!!
Batman out.”

Chubb had 506 rushing yards in 15 games last season with the Houston Texans, making nine starts. He played sparingly during his last two seasons with the Browns before departing in free agency.

In 17 games in 2022, Chubb was third in the NFL with a career-high 1,525 rushing yards, with his 5.1 yards for carry the best among the top seven running backs in the NFL. Chubb also had 27 catches for 239 yards. Nick Chubb played in 14 games during the 2021 NFL season, carrying the ball 228 times for 1,259 yards (5.5 average) and eight touchdowns. It marked his third-straight season with at least 1,000 yards rushing, as he missed the mark by just four yards during his rookie campaign in 2018. While four missed games due to a sprained MCL prevented Chubb from competing for the NFL’s rushing title in 2020, he still tore the league up. In 12 games in the regular season, Chubb had 190 carries for 1,067 yards and 12 touchdowns, adding 16 catches for 150 yards. Chubb’s 5.6 yards per carry was good for second among running backs, behind only rookie JK Dobbins. His 88.9 yards per game was third in the league, behind Derrick Henry and Dalvin Cook. He is one of three players, with David Montgomery and rookie Jonathan Taylor being the others, with 190 or more carries and only one fumble. In two playoff games, Chubb rushed 31 times for 145 yards, catching six passes for 73 yards and a touchdown.

The former UGA standout and Cleveland running back finished as the NFL’s second-leading rusher in 2019 as Tennessee’s Derrick Henry passed him with a monster game in week 17. Despite not being given the same weight of opportunity as some other backs, Chubb still remains the most efficient runner in the game over his young career. This season, he finished second in the league in rushing, with 1,122 of his yards coming after contact. He averaged more than a full yard after contact than Christian McCaffrey and was second in the NFL in broken tackles (66). Chubb also had 13 broken tackles on his 36 catches out of the backfield, but he saw a fraction of the targets that the most productive receivers did at the position. Over 75 percent of Chubb’s 1,494 yards came after he was contacted in 2019.

Despite running behind an offensive line that struggled mightily all season and within an offense that was dysfunctional at best, Chubb had seven games where he eclipsed the 100-yard mark and 10 games where he rushed for at least 80 yards. He averaged five yards per carry while carrying the football 18.6 times per game and scored eight touchdowns. He had a long of 88 yards.

Chubb did that coming off a rookie season where he had 996 yards rushing. If his final carry of the 2018 season hadn’t been for a five-yard loss, Chubb would have two 1,000-yard showings in as many seasons, but it’s important to note that as a rookie, he had just 16 carries in his first six games before Cleveland traded Carlos Hyde to Jacksonville.

What Chubb did at UGA was nothing short of remarkable. After stepping in for a suspended Todd Gurley as a freshman, Chubb rushed for 1,547 yards and 14 touchdowns as a freshman. His sophomore season was cut short due to a gruesome knee injury suffered at Tennessee in the sixth game of the year, putting his football future in doubt. But he returned less than 10 months later to carve up North Carolina in the 2016 Chick-Fil-A Kickoff game with 32 carries for 222 yards and two touchdowns.

Chubb finished that junior season with 1,130 yards and eight touchdowns before electing to return for his senior year. In his final season at UGA, Chubb piled up 1,345 yards and 15 touchdowns while helping the Bulldogs to an SEC Championship, a Rose Bowl victory in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, and the National Championship game. He was selected by the Browns with the No. 35 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.