Minkah Fitzpatrick claps back at critics blaming him for Nick Chubb’s injury - “I'm not a dirty player”

The NFL world is still in shock over Nick Chubb's gruesome knee injury that was the result of Pittsburgh Steelers' Minkah Fitzpatrick's tackle.

Chubb was bursting through the line of scrimmage when Fitzpatrick and another Steelers player were trying to bring him down. Fitzpatrick went low, and Chubb's knee was blown out.

After the game, some criticism came Fitzpatrick's way, with some accusing him of being a dirty player due to the incident. But the Steelers star has now fired back.

With Nick Chubb now out for the season for the Cleveland Browns, many think that Fitzpatrick's tackle, which is made by many NFL defenders, was dirty.

Well, Fitzpatrick has responded to those comments and has defended himself, via ESPN:

"I'm a guy that is a competitor, that's going to go out there and play the game," Fitzpatrick said. "I'm chippy, I'm edgy, of course, but I'm not a dirty player. I'm not going to sit here and defend my character. I know the type of player I am. Chubb knows the type of player I am. I played against him for the past five years, two times a year.

"And I love competing against him. He brings the best out of me, and I bring the best out of him. No chance that I would ever try and purposely injure somebody, always. It was an unfortunate event."

---

Browns have to move forward without Nick Chubb

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Cleveland Browns

With Chubb out for the season, the Browns moved swiftly to grab a replacement, as Kareem Hunt was signed to a one-year, $4 million deal.

Chubb was on pace to have yet another great season as he had 106 rushing yards in Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals and 106 yards on just 10 carries before injury against the Steelers.

With Chubb having had four consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons, the Browns now have a huge hole in their offense that needs to be filled. With much of what Cleveland does offensively going through Chubb, it will be interesting to see how the offense now operates.

It will now be up to second-year back Jerome Ford and the veteran Hunt to pick up the slack for a Cleveland team that needs to get into the postseason with Deshaun Watson.