Reunited in Miami, Dolphins LB Bradley Chubb ready for ‘full-circle’ moment with Vic Fangio

When Bradley Chubb was traded from the Denver Broncos to the Dolphins in a trade-deadline deal last November, he donned the No. 2 jersey with his new team, calling his next journey “part two of my life” and a “new beginning.”

So, when news broke in February that the Dolphins were hiring Chubb’s first NFL coach, Vic Fangio, to be the team’s defensive coordinator, he thought it was fitting.

“Now, I get a second chance with coach Fangio,” he said during a video news conference on Tuesday. “... It kind of came full circle with everything that I was wearing the No. 2 for and had that mindset for. It’s dope how it works out.”

For all the intrigue in Fangio’s arrival to Miami, maybe none is greater than the reunion with Chubb, who had a Pro Bowl campaign under his tutelage but endured an injury-marred tenure with the 64-year-old coach.

“That’s one of my favorite coaches that I’ve been in the room with,” Chubb said, “just because he expects so much out of his players. He’s going to keep it straight up with you. If he calls a play and you didn’t execute, he’s going to ask you, ‘Why didn’t you execute? I put you in a position to execute. Why didn’t you?’

“In this high-paced game we play, that’s what you need. You just need that transparency, you need somebody to be on you a little bit, hold you to that standard that we hold ourselves to. That’s what he’s going to do and I’m excited about it.”

As a rookie in 2018, one year before Fangio was hired as the Broncos head coach, Chubb recorded a career-high 12 sacks. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2020 after a 7.5-sack season, his second with Fangio, but missed 24 games in those three seasons because of a torn ACL and ankle injury. He managed just one sack in 2019 and 2021, and Fangio was fired shortly after the 2021 season concluded.

“The three years I was with him in Denver, he was the victim of some injuries ... So I’m anxious to get him rolling, keep him healthy and see the Bradley Chubb that we all know he’s capable of being,” Fangio said in his introductory news conference.

To get Chubb, the Dolphins sent a trade package to the Broncos that included a first-round pick in the 2023 Draft, a midseason swing to add an accomplished pass rusher to a defense reeling from injuries. Less than 48 hours later, the team and Chubb agreed to a five-year extension worth $110 million, making him one of the league’s highest-paid pass rushers.

Chubb, 26, finished the 2022 season with eight sacks and was named to the Pro Bowl as an alternate but accumulated 2.5 sacks in his eight regular-season games as a Dolphin. In the team’s end-of-season news conference, general manager Chris Grier noted how many of the metrics the team values improved after Chubb arrived. But Chubb characterized his half season in Miami as “up and down,” which included a hand injury that limited him during the team’s stretch run.

Several months removed from a life-altering trade, there is more comfort for Chubb, from his teammates and others around the facility to his knowledge of South Florida traffic and when he has to leave home to reach his destination.

And his experience in Fangio’s scheme should diminish the learning curve as he looks to take a leading role on the defense opposite fellow pass rusher Jaelan Phillips. Fangio’s recent stints as defensive coordinator have included units with low rates of blitzing and more zone coverage.

“I feel like [the scheme] is really meant for the outside linebackers to set the tone and establish everything, establish dominance,” Chubb said.

Months from the start of the 2023 NFL season, Chubb is embracing the big expectations that come not only for the Dolphins but for him and a defense projected to rebound under Fangio.

“It’s a cool individual accolade,” Chubb said of his Pro Bowl honor. “But I want this team to be playing and in the mix when the Pro Bowl comes around, so we can’t even go. Yeah, we get nominated but we can’t even go because we’ve got a bigger to worry about.”