Fantasy Alert: Jerome Ford Will Be Browns' Featured RB After Nick Chubb Injury

Get those waiver claims ready—Jerome Ford is going to be this week's hot target.

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters on Tuesday that Ford will be the team's feature back in the wake of Nick Chubb's season-ending knee injury, though the team will also look at external candidates.

"As you know—you don't replace Nick Chubb. You just don't do that," he said. "Great players in the league, you look around, they go out, it's always not one person that replaces a player of his caliber. So, everybody's got to do a little bit more. You've got to do a little bit more everywhere. But we'll look at options there in terms of who we bring in."

Ford, 24, looked up to the task on Monday night, rushing 16 times for 106 yards while adding three catches for 25 yards and a score.

The 2022 fifth-round pick out of Cincinnati has the potential to put up solid fantasy numbers in Cleveland's run game, though it's always possible the team could add another player via a trade or in free agency.

Two names who come to mind: Cam Akers, who is on the trade block in Los Angeles, and former Browns running back and current free agent Kareem Hunt.

But for the moment, Ford is the biggest name on the waiver wire. In Cleveland's offense, he could put up RB2 numbers if he remains the featured back.

And at a time when a number of key running backs have been lost for the season (Chubb, J.K. Dobbins) and a slew of others are dealing with varying degrees of injuries or unavailable due to suspension (Saquon Barkley, Austin Ekeler, David Montgomery, Jonathan Taylor, Jamaal Williams, Alvin Kamara, Aaron Jones, Kenneth Gainwell), you may be hurting for depth at running back.

That makes adding a player like Ford all the more valuable.

Granted, the team's offense may change without its best offensive player in Chubb. But Stefanski said the team wasn't going to remain static, with or without him.

"I think you do that week-to-week, based on who's available to you," he said of shifting the team's offensive approach. "Obviously, you lose Nick, but we have players back there that we really trust and we like a lot. So, it does shift some things to different guys and we'll work through that throughout this week and really throughout the season."

For now, expect a lot of workload to shift to Ford. He's the biggest potential addition of the week.