Coming off their second straight Wild Card-round exit in the NFL playoffs, the Miami Dolphins vowed to change their culture heading into the 2024 season.
Now, after missing the postseason entirely last year, at least one member of the 2025 Dolphins is ready to admit the truth.
‘I’m going to say last year, we were lying, honestly,’ said outside linebacker Bradley Chubb, who missed the entire 2024 season after a 2023 knee injury. ‘Point blank, period. We felt it.
‘We put our toe in the water, but we didn’t dive all the way in,’ he continued. ‘We didn’t get all the way there with each other. We weren’t making the effort to go the extra mile.’
Chubb didn’t specify who failed to live up to the team’s newly adopted standards, but there are suspects. For instance, receiver Tyreek Hill took himself out of the final game of the season before hinting at his imminent departure, only to reverse course this offseason and claim he’s out ‘to prove’ himself all over again in Miami this season.
Beyond that, the team’s other issues were mostly related to injuries along the offensive line and at running back, not to mention quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s continued battle with concussions.
Miami Dolphins linebacker Bradley Chubb gestures during an interview after OTAs
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel stands with players, including wide receiver Jaylen Waddle
Regardless, Chubb sees this year’s team as being genuinely more dedicated to the task of winning than last year’s.
‘I would say this year we’re doing that [culture change],’ he said. ‘I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out for us, but we are putting forth that foot to change it.
‘If it works out, it’s going to work out. If it doesn’t, we’re going to get back to the drawing board and make sure it works out.’
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel did not seem too upset to hear Chubb’s quote.
‘It would have been awesome if he would have told me on the front end when they were lying,’ McDaniel said.
‘Beyond that, 2024, unless I’m using it directly for an analogy, I’m much more concerned with 2025, he continued.
‘I think you do a lot more for the organization if you spend your time thinking forward in terms of not this, that, or the other, or whose fault it was. No, we want it like this, let’s do it like this and this is who we are. I don’t even — what year did you speak of? I guess I’ll read about that in history books.’
Miami could boast one of the better defenses in 2025 thanks to Chubb’s return to a unit that ranked 10th in points allowed and fourth in yardage in 2024.
What’s more, Miami added mᴀssive Michigan defensive tackle Kenneth Grant in the first round of April’s NFL Draft.
