The Miami Dolphins’ playoff hopes effectively ended on Sunday.
So should any plan to play Bradley Chubb this year.
Chubb can practice one more week while remaining on the physically unable to perform list before the Dolphins must decide whether to activate him or shut him down for good. But after Sunday’s season-wrecking loss to the Houston Texans, Miami has no incentive to play Chubb.
Should Miami Dolphins Sit Bradley Chubb?
Chubb has not played since tearing his ACL, patellar tendon, and meniscus last New Year’s Eve.
Last week, he spoke to reporters for the first time in nearly a year, and gave the following update on his rehab:
“It’s been feeling good. I’m just taking it day by day. I’m not trying to look big picture right now, just trying to see how I feel each and every day, how it responds to each and every different obstacle that’s thrown at me right now. So far, it’s been good, so hopefully it trends in the right direction.”
It’s great that Chubb has made strides from what was about as significant of a knee injury as one can suffer on the football field.
But his motivation from here on out should be to complete his rehab so he’ll be at 100% for the start of the 2025 season.
At 6-8, the Dolphins’ season is lost. They should be in risk-aversion mode during the season’s final three weeks and shut down players like Terron Armstead and perhaps even Tyreek Hill, both of whom are dealing with significant injuries.
And there’s no bigger risk, at least from a financial standpoint, than playing Chubb in three largely meaningless games.
Bradley Chubb Contract
Chubb is in Year 2 of a five-year contract extension he signed shortly after his trade to Miami midway through the 2022 season.
The deal included $33.5 million guaranteed at signing and another $20.5 million in 2024.
The Dolphins’ return on that investment? In 24 games, Chubb has generated 13.5 sacks and 12 tackles.
That brings Miami to the present and the near future when they have two major decisions to make:
- Is getting three throwaway games’ worth of work out of Chubb in their best interests, given his injury history?
- Is he in their long-term plans?
If the answer to either of those questions is no, then they should keep him on PUP for the remainder of the season.
They simply cannot afford the risk.
The only remaining guaranteed money on Chubb’s contract is the $10 million in base salary that the Dolphins will owe him if he cannot pass a physical by the start of the league year (March 12).
If that guarantee isn’t triggered, the Dolphins can cut Chubb in 2025 with either a standard designation (which would save roughly $2 million in cap space next year) or, more likely, with a post-June 1 designation (which would free up some $20 million in 2025 space).
Miami has three months to make those decisions.
But if the Dolphins play Chubb over the final three weeks of the season and he gets hurt, the decision will be made for them.