Dolphins' Bradley Chubb, on facing old Broncos team: ‘It's going to mean a lot'

MIAMI GARDENS — This is the time the player goes into his act, downplaying the fact that he’s about to face his former team. Says it’s just another game to anyone who asks, not changing his tune until after the game, when he admits what everyone knew all along.

Dolphins linebacker Bradley Chubb didn’t bother with that lip service Wednesday when asked whether facing his original team, the Denver Broncos, carries extra meaning.

“I’m not going to even lie to you and say it doesn’t,” Chubb said. “You know, it’s going to mean a lot to go out there and play a lot of those guys that I built relationships with, I called brothers for a while. And yes, it’s a big thing, but I can’t approach it like that on Sunday.”

Chubb is coming off one of his best, if not the best, games he has played since being traded to the Dolphins for a first-round pick last Nov. 1. It’s a day he remembers vividly, having just flown back with the Broncos from a game in London, minutes before the 4 p.m. (EDT) trade deadline and heading to his favorite restaurant, Sierra, for some wood-fired eating.

Then his phone rang.

“We’re going to Miami,” he told his girlfriend.

It was an easy thing to say, not so easy to swallow.

“You pour your heart into someplace for four, four and a half years, you want to see it turn out well,” he said. “You want to see the wins start to add up, and I just never got to that point there. So, yeah, it was disappointing not reaching that goal. But I’ve got new goals and that wasn’t God’s plan for me to win there. God’s plan is for me to be in Miami and do everything I possibly can to help this team win as many games as we possibly can.”

Bradley Chubb picks up for absent Jaelan Phillips

With his fellow bookend pass rusher, Jaelan Phillips, out with a back injury, Chubb helped the Dolphins improve to 2-0 last Sunday with a 24-17 victory at New England. Chubb had seven tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits and a forced fumble. Deshon Elliott recovered it to stop a Patriots drive in the second quarter and set up a touchdown drive for a 10-0 lead.

The NFL’s Next Gen Stats showed that as Chubb determined there was an opportunity for a takeaway, he accelerated from 2.78 mph to 14.99 and covered 12.2 yards in 2.4 seconds.

“I was, ‘Oh, I could catch this,’ ” Chubb said. “Saw the ball hanging and just went for it. That’s what they teach us. We talk about it every Thursday in meetings, getting the ball out, and I’m just glad that was my example that’s going to be up there this week.”

Denver made Chubb the fifth overall pick in 2018. It’s where he made his first Pro Bowl two years later under Vic Fangio, who’s now the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator. There were times last season Chubb wasn’t pleased with his performance even though it ended with a second Pro Bowl invite. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel remained patient.

“There wasn’t a day that has gone by since we were able to acquire him that I haven’t been thankful,” McDaniel said. “Production is more of a ‘when,’ not ‘if.’ And I think it’s awesome to see earned production. But what’s unique about Bradley and one of the reasons why we chose to acquire him and we chose to pay him was because he is a difference-maker that’s also selfless.”

McDaniel pointed to Chubb’s willingness to tend to some of his less-glorious duties — read: run containment — compared with piling up sacks.

“I think a lot of times, particularly at the edge position in the National Football League, it’s almost like a receiver blocking,” McDaniel said. “You have to, as an edge player, defend the run if you want your team to be good but you don’t necessarily get direct compensation all the time for. Guys get paid for sacks.”

Chubb: I have better performances in me than Patriots game

Chubb said he knew he had a task before him, facing the Patriots minus Phillips.

“I feel like I’ve got a lot more games in me even better than that,” Chubb said. “But once J.P. went down … I got in that mindset, I would say that early in the week because I knew that first week wasn’t my best foot forward and it wasn’t my best ball and I kind of had that — I don’t want to cuss, but I had some (expletive) in my neck about it. I wasn’t happy with how we played as a defense.”

Chubb is stationed next to Phillips in the locker room. Phillips, who said he felt “great” Wednesday, knows Chubb is especially looking forward to Sunday.

“I think he's definitely excited,” Phillips said. “But now we really try to keep a level head with all this, no matter what the game is.”

Chubb said there will come a time when he must turn off that extra bit of adrenaline.

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“I don’t think it’s going to be that hard, man because we’ve got so much talent on this defense,” Chubb said. “It’s easy for me to kind of trust the guys around me and let them do their thing, too.”

Just as he made new partnerships in Miami, Chubb had to let go of old ones in Denver. This Sunday, Chubb’s job is to track down Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, a player he has “grown to love and respect,” he said.

“It’s going to be dope to go out there and compete against him because I know the competitor he is,” Chubb said. “I know he has a lot of get-back to the NFL this year. He has something that he wants to prove. And our main thing on Sunday is to not let him prove it.”

A year ago at this time, the Dolphins were just another team to Chubb. He wore orange, but it wasn’t Miami orange.

“But I’m in the right place where I need to be now,” he said. “These are my brothers now. I can’t be worried about the memories I made. Gotta focus on changing the future.”

Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal.

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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dolphins' Bradley Chubb, facing former Broncos team: ‘It's a big thing'