Miami Dolphins OLB Bradley Chubb to remain on PUP for Rest of 2024

Bradley Chubb will not return in 2024 after all.

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said Tuesday the team would not be activating Chubb off the Reserve/PUP by the Christmas Day deadline.

That means he will remain on PUP, where he has spent the entire season as he tried to work his way back from his serious 2023 knee injury. Chubb’s three-week window, which opened upon his return to practice, expires Wednesday.

Because he was on PUP and not injured reserve or Reserve/Non-Football Illness, Chubb’s return to practice did not count against the maximum of eight returns each team is allowed during the regular season.

Chubb will wind up being the only one of the four players who began the season on PUP not to be activated.

Cameron Goode became the latest PUP player to be activated when the Dolphins put him on the 53-man roster for the game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Before that, wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and guard Isaiah Wynn also were activated off PUP, though Beckham was waived a couple of weeks ago (and is still looking for a new team).

McDaniel said the Dolphins’ current situation, with the idea of making the playoffs being a long shot, didn’t factor in the decision to keep Chubb sidelined. Nor was the emergence of rookie first-round pick Chop Robinson as an impactful pass rusher since the middle of the season.

Rather, he said it simply was a matter of Chubb not yet being able to be himself on the field.

“He’s gone after the whole process so that he could be Bradley Chubb for this football team,” McDaniel said. “And he knows what that looks like. And he’s been very patient in the process, very open-minded, had growth as the process went. But ultimately, we all decided that we didn’t think he would be able to be the player that he expects, that we all expect. Just need a little bit more time that unfortunately the season couldn’t offer us. He’s still all in it and he was disappointed, but also understands the big picture at stake, and was going to make sure that when he’s on the field for the Dolphins that everyone feels the player that he knows he is.”

The decision to keep Chubb on PUP means the Dolphins will finish the regular season with their current group of edge pass rushers, led by Robinson and veteran Emmanuel Ogbah.

The Dolphins also have Quinton Bell and rookie fifth-round pick Mohamed Kamara as edge defenders, with Tyus Bowser eligible to come off IR before the end of the regular season.

The 2025 group at the position could be very deep and talented if Chubb and Jaelan Phillips can bounce back from their 2024 injuries.

It needs to be mentioned that Chubb’s contract makes it less than certain he’ll be back in 2025. Chubb’s cap number next season jumps from $15.9 million to $29.3 million, but doesn’t include guaranteed money.

The Dolphins could save $20 million against the salary if they decided to release Chubb with a post-June 1 designation. Chubb’s contract also includes a $10 million injury guarantee that would go into effect in the event he weren’t able to pass a physical at the start of the next league year, which also could have been a motivating factor for the Dolphins to keep him sidelined.

In the final analysis, McDaniel said Chubb benefited from the three weeks of practice.

“The process, although we’re not seeing him this year, it was very beneficial to be able to work through that now,” McDaniel said. “You’re not waiting an offseason with like, what’s it going to be like? He knows where he’s at right now, and knows that he just has a little longer to build to get to his standard of play and standard of execution. I think that it was a little unknown, to be quite honest, when he started, just because you don’t know unless you try and it wasn’t a failure or a setback, it was just the the nature of the injury and how his body has responded and it was every day getting better. We just hoped it would go a little further with it.”