The newest in-season pass rusher trade in the NFL shines a harsh light on one of the biggest mistakes of Chris Grier’s Dolphins rebuild
The latest going rate for a pass rusher only further underscores one of Chris Grier’s biggest missteps of his 2019 rebuild.
NFL Draft picks are considered to be gold. They are the lifeblood of every NFL roster and they afford the opportunity to bring in cost-controlled talent on an annual basis. What you do with them is, ultimately, up to each NFL general manager or executive. Some, like the Baltimore Ravens, hoard them. Others, like Les Snead and the Los Angeles Rams in their Super Bowl era, could not trade them fast enough. The Miami Dolphins have experienced a little bit of both under the direction of Chris Grier.
Miami’s build started with a steadfast commitment to draft picks. Laremy Tunsil, Minkah Fitzpatrick and trade downs gave Miami a treasure trove of draft picks. The early usage of those picks helped breathe life into a roster that was stripped bare. Then, with the arrival of Mike McDaniel has the head coach in 2022, a switch flipped. A massive blockbuster for wide receiver Tyreek Hill. Another monumental deal at the trade deadline in 2022.
It’s that trade deadline blockbuster that should be thrust back under the microscope today on the heels of the latest former 1st-round pass rusher to be traded in-season in the NFL. The Ravens sent Odafe Oweh and a future seventh-round pick to the Los Angeles Chargers for safety Alohi Gilman and a fifth-round pick. The more time passes and the more trades like these we see, the more of a misstep the Dolphins’ decision to trade for Bradley Chubb appears to be.
Time, more NFL in-season trades of pass rushers continue to age Miami’s trade for Bradley Chubb like milk
Let me be clear. I like Bradley Chubb! I appreciate his no-nonsense leadership approach and, when fully healthy, he’s been a potent power rusher. He was phenomenal for the Miami Dolphins in 2023 before a knee injury against the Ravens in Week 17 cost him the rest of the year (and the subsequent 2024 season). But seeing pass rushers like Odafe Oweh getting moved while on his rookie contract for a 5th-round pick and a good player back (Gilman) underscores just how much the Dolphins paid for Bradley Chubb in the fall of 2022.
The full terms of Bradley Chubb’s trade and contract to Miami:
Miami sent a first-round pick in 2023, a fourth-round pick in 2024, and running back Chase Edmonds to Denver for Chubb and a 2025 fifth-round pick on November 1, 2022. Chubb then signed a five-year, $110 million contract with the Dolphins upon his arrival to the team. Chubb, who made the Pro Bowl in 2020 and was third in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting in 2018, was 26-years-old at the time of the trade.
Bradley Chubb’s playing career with the Miami Dolphins by the numbers
- 29 career games with the Dolphins (as of Week 5)
- 17.5 sacks as a Dolphin
- 11 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, 22 quarterback hits in 16 games during 2023 campaign
- In line for $65 million in compensation at the end of the season (plus 2025 incentives) since November of 2022
Oweh, who was just shipped to the Chargers yesterday, is not Bradley Chubb. He hasn’t been great for Baltimore in a contract year and his stock is down considerably for 2024, when he posted 10 sacks. But this is the latest example of a pass rusher trade in-season that has been for considerably less than what Miami paid for Chubb. Chubb is part of an exclusive club of pass rushers to get traded for a first-round pick upon the start of training camp through the trade deadline in the past 10 years. Those names?
- Micah Parsons – traded to Green Bay for two first-round picks & Kenny Clark in 2025
- Bradley Chubb – traded to Miami for first and fourth-round picks & Chase Edmonds in 2022
- Khalil Mack – traded to Chicago for two first-round, a third, and a sixth-round picks in 2018
That’s it! That’s the list. Names like Von Miller and Chase Young and Dante Fowler Jr. and Montez Sweat have all been traded in that window of time. None went for a first-round pick. And Miami’s decision to move their first-rounder for Chubb came after the team was already stripped of two extra draft choices, a first and a third, in August of that same season in 2022. It all really helps paint the picture of how a well-intended plan was able to go south. Because the Dolphins cared about hoarding draft picks until suddenly they didn’t.
And with this latest example of the going rate for pass rushers in-season, it just further underscores how the Dolphins find themselves in the situation they’re in today. Here’s to the next chapter of this organization learning these lessons of the past and ensuring that the history of this kind of splash move stays history.
Miami Dolphins News
If the Dolphins sell at the trade deadline, the outlook for moving Bradley Chubb is a little more complicated than you may think
Easier said than done, perhaps…
