Dolphins' Bradley Chubb, Jeff Wilson latest to uproot their lives, learn on the fly
MIAMI GARDENS — Even for a running back known for his speed, this was a little ridiculous. Raheem Mostert was getting a call from his agent, who had two bits of news.
First, he’d been picked up by the Dolphins.
Second, he had 30 minutes to grab a taxi, get to the airport and catch the flight the Dolphins took the liberty of booking for him.
“It was crazy,” Mostert said.
Crazy? Yes.
Unheard of? No.
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It routinely happens in the NFL when a player is with one team one day, another team the next day. Or, as Mostert can tell you, that same day.
The glitz, the swag — it’s what fans think of when they think of the NFL lifestyle. And the money. Always the money. And while the players aren’t in the market for sympathy that isn’t coming their way anyway, several Dolphins who had to change teams on the fly can relate to the dizzying world that edge rusher Bradley Chubb and running back Jeff Wilson occupied last week.
The Dolphins traded for them last Tuesday, but by Wednesday morning they were in the practice facility in Miami Gardens, preparing for a game at Chicago four days later. Not only did both men play, but they played significant roles.
Wilson led the Dolphins in rushing with 51 yards, but his first good move occurred in the Dallas airport. He’d been in Texas visiting relatives during his bye week with the 49ers and was about to board a flight back to San Francisco when he learned he was a Dolphin. It’s not every day you consider yourself lucky if you didn’t buy early boarding privileges.
“It seems like everything is going 100 miles an hour,” said Wilson, who this week was hoping his car would arrive at any time. In the meantime, he was showing off an electric scooter in the locker room.
Bradley Chubb: ‘Get used to being uncomfortable at first'
The Dolphins were so eager for Chubb and Wilson to arrive they sent a private charter to pick up Chubb in Denver, then Wilson. That mini-layover in Dallas was just a rumor to Chubb, who was so tired — having just returned from a Broncos victory in London — he slept the entire flight to South Florida.
“You’ve just got to get used to being uncomfortable at first and finding your way,” said Chubb, who started against the Bears and played 54 snaps.
Mostert has this down pat. He has made eight stops in his NFL career, including two in Miami.
“You dedicate your whole morals, beliefs and aspects of the game to one organization and it doesn’t work out, then you’ve got to get on a flight within a couple of hours,” Mostert said. “It’s tough because you’ve got to get all your eggs in a basket. Where are you going to stay? Meeting a new team. Meeting the organization, all that good stuff.”
Unlike Mostert’s scramble to the airport, Chubb had four hours to pack “everything you feel is important” before leaving Denver. Next thing he knew, he was in a new city, without a permanent place to live, without a car and without — this is tough — his PlayStation 5.
“I really didn’t forget it,” he said. “I just didn’t really have space for it. So I’m going to go back in the bye week and go get that, for sure.”
Waived by Baltimore on a Thursday night in 2019, defensive end Zach Sieler was in Davie the next morning.
“It’s a new team, new technique, new defensive scheme and it’s fast learning, which is always tough,” Sieler said. “But what a lot of people don’t think about is off-the-field stuff with the house up there, family up there, wife and dogs are up there … ”
Agents help. That’s their job. Teams too have staffers to assist new players in finding a place to live and a school for their kids. But there are leases to break, cable TV contracts to cancel. Many players rent furniture for this very reason. It’s always something.
“I’m finishing up documents and contracts as we speak,” Wilson said, phone in hand while sitting at his locker Wednesday. “It’s always busy, but at the same time, I’ve still got to get ready for practice. Time is just limited until you get accustomed to everything.”
Mostert’s airport dash occurred in his rookie season, 2015. He was in Atlanta for a Monday night game while on the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice squad. He told his driver to keep “his foot on the gas — I gotta catch a flight.” That was easy. The problem was, he hadn’t brought much on the road trip.
“Just my travel suit from the Eagles,” Mostert said. “So I showed up at the Dolphins’ facility in Davie with my Eagles gear on. And that’s when Joe (equipment manager Joe Cimino) and the equipment guys couldn’t believe I showed up like that. It was such short notice, you know what I mean?”
Although Mostert was in South Florida, a major piece of his life remained in Philadelphia.
“My wife was behind,” he said. “I was just about to sign a lease to a new townhome for the year and thankfully, I didn’t because it would have cost me a little bit more.”
That accounted for the house.
“I needed clothes of course, because I didn’t have any,” he said. “And so she was able to overnight some. She actually had to go into the Eagles’ locker room to grab the rest of my stuff — my cleats and everything like that.”
Zach Sieler's RV was a blessing when it came time to move
Some lucky players have an easier transition.
“I’m fortunate enough I have an amazing wife and she helps take care of all that,” Sieler said. “And we haven’t had to go through that. I was single back then and I had an RV. So we packed that thing up. My dad flew out there the next week and drove it down.”
Dolphins safety Eric Rowe was traded by the Eagles to the Patriots as the 2016 season opened. Around 11 a.m. on Sept 7, he was called into the general manager’s office and learned that New England wanted him on a 1 p.m. flight.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, my God. I don’t have anything packed,’ ” Rowe said. “And I’m on the practice field the next day, trying to figure things out.”
Just because players signed up for this doesn’t make it less stressful.
“Just imagine,” Rowe said. “You built your life, right? Your community, your city, and your wife or husband, your friends, their connections, and then boom! You’re gone. … If you have kids, they’ve got to move their kids. But you don’t see any of that in the media. All they (fans) see is a player’s on this team, now he’s on this team.
“It’s a lot of stress behind it. Yeah, it sucks.”
Hal Habib covers the Dolphins for The Post. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Bradley Chubb, Jeff Wilson uproot lives while learning Dolphins' system
