Bradley Chubb was brought to the Miami Dolphins to make a major impact. That’s what an NFL franchise expects when it trades a first-round pick for a player.
The acquisition of the standout outside linebacker is half the reason why the Dolphins don’t own one of those valued first-round selections in Thursday’s draft. The other, of course, is the penalty the league handed down on the Dolphins for tampering with quarterback Tom Brady and coach Sean Payton. Miami once had two 2023 first-round picks.
For the first half-season Chubb had with the Dolphins, after the big trade-deadline move and ensuing five-year, $110 million extension with $63.2 million guaranteed, he feels he didn’t quite deliver on the team’s investment.
“I was up and down with it,” Chubb said Tuesday in a web conference call with reporters with the Dolphins in their second week of the offseason workout program. “Grasping a whole new defense, grasping a new set of teammates, I feel like I did okay.
“I, for sure, held myself to a higher standard. I wanted to come in and be that guy that got 10 sacks in half a season and stuff like that. But everything doesn’t work out like that.”
In seven starts, Chubb had 13 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks, a forced fumble and 12 quarterback hits. He added a strip-sack in the playoff loss at the Buffalo Bills.
In his first eight games of 2022 with Denver, he had 5 1/2 sacks with 26 tackles. Totaling eight sacks on the season, he was named to the Pro Bowl, his second such selection after also finishing third in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting in 2018 for a 12-sack season.
He battled a broken hand and high-ankle sprain last year, but he’s not using it as an excuse and knows 2023 is the time to start delivering in a season where the Dolphins look to go further coming off last year’s playoff berth.
“I just look back at all that as fuel for this season,” he said. “They brought me here for a reason, and I just got to make sure I live up to that reason.
“Finishing out with just a playoff berth, that’s not what the goal is. That’s not what the standard is. … “This team and this organization has so many things ahead of us that I’m using that, for sure, as fuel.”
And he doesn’t necessarily take it as a burden to come up with big sack numbers given what the Dolphins did to bring him in.
“Not a burden. I feel like it’s my job,” said Chubb, adding impact can also come from drawing extra attention and opening up holes for other pass rushers.
What can be refreshing for Chubb, after experiencing such a lack of familiarity with his surroundings the second half of last season, is that he’s now reunited with Vic Fangio, his coach for three seasons with the Broncos. The coveted defensive mind is now Miami’s defensive coordinator.
“That’s one of my favorite coaches I’ve been in the room with,” Chubb said. “He expects so much out of his players, and he’s going to keep it straight-up with you.
“You need somebody to be on you a little bit, to hold you to that standard you hold yourself to. That’s what he’s going to do, and I’m excited about it.”
Fangio’s defense will incorporate more zone coverages on the back end, which in turn could help defensive backs attack passes in the air with their eyes on the quarterback, while giving pass rushers more time to get to the quarterback.
“It’s really meant for the outside linebackers to set the tone, establish everything, establish dominance, whether it be with the tight ends, whether it be with the tackles,” Chubb said of the scheme. “Getting after the quarterback as much as we can. And when that group does that, it makes everybody else’s job easier.”
Chubb is also reunited with former Broncos teammate in fellow edge rusher Malik Reed, who can work in a rotation with Andrew Van Ginkel behind Chubb and 2021 first-round pick Jaelan Phillips.
“That’s my guy,” Chubb said. “One of the smartest football players, one of the most hard-working, talented — just, everything he brings to the field, I’m excited to have that energy in the room.”
Chubb admitted it was difficult to come into a new situation midseason and be a leader right away when he’s just trying to remember people’s names. He’s ready to take that next step with a full offseason in Miami Gardens.
“My main thing is just being the person that Denver drafted and Miami decided, ‘Yeah, we need that guy on our team,’ ” he said. “That’s my leadership. That’s my intensity. That’s my play style. So, just got to get back to that.”
The Dolphins restructured Chubb’s contract this offseason, clearing $14 million in cap space by converting base salary into prorated bonuses. It, in part, allowed Miami to make the trade for Rams star cornerback Jalen Ramsey and free-agent acquisitions like inside linebacker David Long Jr.
()
