Free agent running back D’Onta Foreman is signing with the Cleveland Browns, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Wednesday.
Foreman will join a committee that includes Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong Jr. as star running back Nick Chubb isn’t expected to be ready for the start of the 2024 season after a devastating injury to his left knee in Week 2 last season.
Chubb underwent two surgeries: the first to repair the medial capsule, meniscus and MCL in late September, and the second to repair the ACL in November. The injured knee was the same one Chubb had reconstructed after tearing his MCL, PCL and LCL while at Georgia in 2015.
Kareem Hunt, who led the Browns with nine rushing touchdowns last season, is a free agent.
After signing in March 2023, Foreman became part of a crowded backfield last season for the Chicago Bears along with rookie Roschon Johnson, a fourth-round pick, and Khalil Herbert.
Foreman, who turns 28 on April 24, saw limited action in Chicago’s season-opening loss to the Green Bay Packers and was a healthy scratch in the subsequent four games. It wasn’t until Herbert suffered an ankle injury in Week 5 that Foreman earned more playing time, including a season-best 89 rushing yards and three total touchdowns against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 7.
He generated most of his production from Weeks 6-11, totaling 87 carries for 365 yards (4.2 yards per carry) as well as seven catches for 47 yards and a combined four touchdowns. After an injury forced him to sit out a Week 12 win against the Minnesota Vikings, Foreman only started two more games before becoming a healthy scratch in Weeks 16-18.
Foreman joined the Bears after David Montgomery left Chicago to join NFC North rival Detroit. After spending the first four seasons of his career with the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans, Foreman had his best season with the Carolina Panthers in 2022, appearing in all 17 games — the first time in his career he had been healthy for an entire season — while posting a career-high 914 rushing yards and five touchdowns.