Linebacker Bradley Chubb is adjusting to his role with the Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins picked Jaelen Phillips in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft and signed experienced pass rusher Melvin Ingram to a deal over the offseason, general manager Chris Grier wasn’t done there.
Miami kept adding to the pass rush, which wasn’t a terrible decision considering the defense was no longer being carried by an elite secondary. The team sent a first-round pick to the Denver Broncos for Bradley Chubb, who has eight sacks in 12 games this season.
Josh Boyer’s defense ranks No. 12 with an average of 2.5 sacks per game and the unit is trending upwards with a month left in the regular season. The Dolphins averaged 4.3 sacks over the last three games as Chubb becomes comfortable with his role in the team’s front seven.
“I feel it coming along well. I’m just starting to get more comfortable each and every week, each and every day,” Chubb said on Thursday. “It helps when I’ve got the talent around me as well and just trying to learn about these guys, learn how I rush, how I play and learn how they cover guys, how the inside linebackers shoot downhill and stuff like that.
“So I’m still learning, but I feel like I’ve got a better grasp for the guys around me as well and they’ve got a better grasp of me, too. I feel like it’s only up from here.”
Phillips has another six sacks on the year, including three in the last four weeks.
“Relentless. Just relentless,” Chubb said of Phillips. “He’s got all the physical traits. Everything physical you could think of, he has and the thing that separates him is how he runs to the ball 30 yards down the field and how he reacts just to the different adversity that goes throughout the game and he never wavers. Always the same player, always the same guy so that’s what’s going to make him great.”
The Buffalo Bills overcame three sacks of Josh Allen in last week’s 20-12 win over the New York Jets. The Dolphins will need Chubb and Phillips to pester Allen for four quarters in order to defeat the Bills.
