Bengals should put their name in the ring for the first big salary cap casualty of the 2026 NFL offseason
Cincinnati needs to be one of the first teams to call up Bradley Chubb.
There are few teams that need pass rushers more desperately than the Cincinnati Bengals. Any player who’s proven to be effective at impacting the opposing quarterback should interest them.
That now includes Bradley Chubb, who is being released by the Miami Dolphins per NFL insider Jordan Schultz.
Chubb, a former first-round pick from the 2018 NFL Draft, has amassed 48 sacks in 90 career games. He was originally a two-time Pro Bowler for the Denver Broncos before being traded to the Dolphins during the 2022 season.
It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for Chubb since he arrived in South Florida, and now that he’s free to pursue his third team, Cincinnati should absolutely enter the picture.
Why Bradley Chubb makes sense for the Bengals to sign
Free agency is a little under a month away, and the Bengals are already planning how to improve their biggest weakness. Director of player personnel Duke Tobin didn’t make many things clear in his end-of-season press conference, but he did emphasize Cincy’s need for pass rushers.
“Pass rush is king, and you always need to be layering in pass rusher,” Tobin said. “It can develop from within your team, and I think we’ve seen some of that start to develop from within our team, and then I think we need to find some from external sources as well.”
The free agent market is stop No. 1 for finding answers from “external sources.” The Bengals drafted Shemar Stewart with their first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and have two years of contractual control over Myles Murphy as well. With Trey Hendrickson’s future all the way up in the air and not likely to return, the need for a veteran starting-caliber player is immense.
Enter Chubb, who managed 48 pressures and 8.5 sacks in a full season last year. That’s the first line in his resume interested teams will care about, but the reason why he’s now available is because a torn ACL he suffered late in 2023 cost him his entire 2024 season, and he didn’t look the same this past year. Miami got him take a restructured deal last offseason that eventually made his contract easier to manage in terms of dead salary cap money.
“Despite the sack production, Chubb’s play looked to miss the burst and explosiveness that made him a top draft choice back in 2018. Chubb, who will turn 30 years old in June, was on the books for a salary cap charge north of $31 million this season and he was owed $20.23 million in compensation. The intersection of his career path and the Dolphins needs were no longer aligned. And that is why, midway through February, this news is coming out.” – Kyle Crabbs, A to Z Miami
This reality is yet another reason why Chubb to Cincinnati makes sense: He’ll be more affordable than he was when Miami had him. He’s turning 30 years old this season, and should come at a relative discount.
Chubb immediately becomes one of the biggest names on the free agent market, which is why he won’t be short of suitors. The Bengals have the sap space, cash, playing time opportunity, and star quarterback draw to entice him like few other clubs can. For how much they need his skillset, interest should be very obvious here.
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