Nick Chubb activated off COVID-19 list, gives him good chance of playing in Week 11

The Cleveland Browns officially activated Nick Chubb off the COVID-19 injury list on Friday of Week 11. Chubb missed last week’s game against the New England Patriots after testing positive. With Kareem Hunt sidelined by an injury, D’Ernest Johnson got the start against the Patriots and rushed for 99 yards in the loss.

Chubb will be put through some conditioning work now that he can return to the team facility. If that goes well, he would seem likely to be back on the field this Sunday against the Detroit Lions. The team has one last practice on Friday before releasing the final injury report, so any issues would be added there.

If Chubb plays, you should slot him back into your fantasy football lineups. This isn’t shocking analysis, but it is worth keeping in mind that his ceiling could end up a little bit limited by the COVID-19 absence. Maybe he’s fine and goes back to his dominant ways. Or, maybe the Browns give Johnson a bit more work to ease Chubb back into the flow.

Given how well Johnson has played in the absence of Chubb and Hunt, it would not be surprising to see him getting more work a little more consistently. In the team’s Week 9 thumping of the Bengals, Chubb had 14 carries and Johnson had eight. In the team’s Week 8 loss to the Steelers, Chubb had 16 carries and Johnson had four. The game script against a bad Lions squad could open the door for more Johnson work.