The Miami Dolphins and edge rusher Bradley Chubb agreed on a restructured contract this past week, which will keep Chubb with the team this year. Chubb didn’t play last year after suffering a catastrophic knee injury at the end of the 2023 season, in which he tore his ACL, Meniscus, and Patellar Tendon in his knee.
Fans, including myself, didn’t know how serious the injury was until after the off-season, which explains why the Dolphins played smart and didn’t activate him at the end of the season.
What makes things interesting going into the off-season and next year is that fellow edge rusher Jaelan Phillips is working his way back from a partial ACL tear early in the season after coming back from a torn Achilles tendon in 2023. Phillip should be ahead of his rehab unless there was more damage to his knee that we haven’t heard about.
In 2023, the Dolphins had 56 sacks as a team. Chubb led the team with 11, and Phillips had 6.5 sacks until the Achilles Tendon tear in the Black Friday game in November. Phillips was starting to get into a groove where it looked like he would have double-digit sacks.
The Dolphins’ sack total as a team dropped to 35 last year, which was significant, but not having Chubb and Phillips hurt the pass rush. The Dolphins drafted Chop Robinson in the first round last year, and he had a promising rookie season after a slow start with six sacks, so it is expected he will be better in 2025.
Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said at the end of the season that he would love to find a way to use all three players next year and devise schemes. Having all three of these players together and healthy next year would, without a doubt, improve the Dolphins’ pass rush and defense overall.
However, the Dolphins shouldn’t bank on this. The Dolphins should be open to looking for more pass-rush help as a backup. You can never have enough pass rushers, and this draft is loaded with defensive linemen at the tackle and edge, so the Dolphins should try to get another one to develop.
They also have Mohamad Kamara, who they drafted in the 5th round last year, but he didn’t get on the field as a rookie. The Dolphins could have tendered restricted free agent Quinton Bell, but the 3-million-dollar tender doesn’t match his productivity as he was quiet during the season after a hot start to training camp.
The best-case scenario is that this trio of pass rushers, Chubb, Phillips, and Robinson, all perform at a high level and take the defense to a higher level with their pass rush, but the Dolphins can’t afford to bank on that. If it happens, great, but if not, what is the backup plan? The health of these three will be something to monitor over the off-season and in training camp. The Dolphins should get more reinforcements to protect themselves.
