Edge rusher Bradley Chubb didn’t play a single snap for the Miami Dolphins during the 2024 season. It’s possible he never will again.
That’s what Bleacher Report’s NFL scouting department suggested on January 20 when it listed Chubb among the team’s three most likely cut candidates for the upcoming offseason.
Releasing Chubb as a post-June 1 cut will save the Dolphins more than $19 million against the salary cap for the 2025 season.
“Cutting Bradley Chubb after June 1 isn’t necessarily about making space for this season,” the Bleacher Report staff write. “It’s about having a better long-term cap outlook. Chubb is on the books for a similar cap hit in each of the next three seasons.
“Chubb is a 29-year-old edge-rusher who missed this season with a serious knee injury. It would be understandable to let second-year player Chop Robinson team up with Jaelan Phillips and let those two carry the pass rush next season.”
Chubb made the Pro Bowl during the 2020 and 2022 seasons. During 2023, he led the Dolphins with 11 sacks and posted a league-high six forced fumbles.
But Chubb suffered a torn ACL during Week 17 of the 2023 season. The Dolphins placed him on their PUP list on July 18 and never activated him during 2024.
Why Bradly Chubb Could Not Return to Miami for 2025 Season
Bleacher Report argued cutting Chubb wouldn’t be about the 2025 salary cap. But the fact remains that the Dolphins have one of the worst salary cap situations entering the offseason.
Spotrac projected the Dolphins to be about $14 million above the NFL salary cap at the beginning of free agency. Only three teams will begin the offseason in a bigger salary cap hole.
Bleacher Report’s staff predicted Miami to open a lot of space with contract restructures. While doing that, though, the Dolphins could also create a lot of spending money by moving on from Chubb.
Chubb is set to have a cap hit between $28-29.7 million over each of the next three seasons. According to Overthecap, the dead cap hit of roughly $27.4 million the Dolphins will incur with a Chubb release can be spread out over the next four years.
For 2025, the Dolphins could save $19.55 million by releasing Chubb.
The 28-year-old posted 19 sacks with 42 quarterback hits and nine forced fumbles in 32 games from 2022-23. If the Dolphins project Chubb to return to that level of play again, it might be best to keep the seven-year veteran.
But coming off an ACL tear, it’s risky to project Chubb will return to double-digit sacks in 2025.
He reached double-digit sacks only one other time during his NFL career before 2023. Chubb had a career-high 12 sacks with 14 tackles for loss and 21 quarterback hits as a rookie in 2018.
The Denver Broncos drafted Chubb at No. 5 overall in the 2018 NFL draft. The Dolphins acquired Chubb at the NFL trade deadline in 2022.
Two days after acquiring him, Miami signed the edge rusher to a 5-year, $110 million extension. In 24 games with the Dolphins, Chubb has recorded 13.5 sacks with 12 tackles for loss and 34 quarterback hits.
Dolphins Developing Edge Rusher Chop Robinson
Part of whether or not the Dolphins will release Bradley Chubb is if they believe to have a cheaper replacement for the veteran edge rusher. They could in 2024 first-round pick Chop Robinson.
The No. 21 overall pick last spring, Robinson played well as a rookie, particularly at the end of the 2024 campaign. All six of his sacks and six of his eight tackles for loss came in the team’s final 10 games of 2024.
Robinson also had 14 quarterback hits and four pass defenses this past season.
Fellow former first-round pick Jaelan Phillips will be back in 2025 for the Dolphins as well. The 25-year-old had 22 sacks in his first 42 games for the Dolphins from 2021-23.
But Phillips began 2024 training camp on the PUP list and then suffered a season-ending knee injury during Week 4.
If the Dolphins are confident in Phillips, who is about three years younger than Chubb, bouncing back, Chubb will be even more expendable.
