Dolphins film study: How Bradley Chubb can take Miami’s defense to new heights
New Dolphins outside linebacker Bradley Chubb doesn’t know how much he will play in Chicago when he makes his team debut against the Bears on Sunday. The 2020 Pro Bowler acknowledged he’s still learning the defense after a whirlwind 48 hours that saw him traded to Miami and then receive a five-year extension that places him among the NFL’s highest-paid pass rushers.
Even as the Dolphins work to assimilate Chubb, 26, into their defense, his expertise as a pass rusher could be an immediate boon for the unit. The 5.5 sacks that Chubb brings from eight games with the Denver Broncos already lead his new team.
And his presence on a defense that prides itself on being versatile could not only allow for more unique defensive packages but have a trickle-down effect on a unit that has struggled at times in the first half of the season.
If Chubb doesn’t know much of the defensive play calls by Sunday, he can easily follow one directive successfully: get to the quarterback. Chubb’s 5.5 sacks are tied for 15th in NFL, and his advanced pass rush numbers are on a similar trajectory to his career-high 12-sack season as a rookie in 2018. He also ranks third in ESPN’s pass block win rate, defined as how often defenders beat their blockers within 2.5 seconds.
In five of Chubb’s pass rushes that have led to credit for a half or full sack this season, he’s lined up in a wide-nine technique — an alignment that places an edge rusher outside the offensive tackle and in some cases the tight end — on all but one play. It’s a valued alignment, forcing offensive tackles to cover more ground in space on the pass rush.
On some of the sacks, he uses his speed and length to work around the lineman and get to the quarterback. Other times, he uses his quickness to cut across the face of the blocker and go inside. On another sack, he lines up as a four-technique — directly across the offensive tackle — and works his way across the interior linemen before getting to Colts quarterback Matt Ryan.
Chubb’s versatility, plus his combination of size (6-4, 275 pounds) and speed, should allow him to line up in a multitude of spots along the defensive front. More than two-thirds of his 203 pass rush snaps came lining up on the left side of the offensive line, according to Pro Football Focus. For comparison, 55 percent of Jaelan Phillips’ pass rush snaps have come on the left side of the offensive line.
As Chubb joins Phillips as bookend pass rushers, the Dolphins are hoping their pass rush gets a jolt that has been often lacking this season. The team ranks 21st with a pressure rate of 31.4 percent, according to TruMedia, despite blitzing on 33.4 percent of opposing dropbacks, the seventh-highest rate in the NFL.
This is part of the reason the Dolphins’ defense ranks 25th in Football Outsiders’ efficiency metrics, which accounts for the quality of opponents. Miami’s pass defense is 29th in efficiency, according to the metrics site.
The Dolphins’ defense, at its core, is a unit that wants to impact the quarterback, often by creating a numbers advantage with extra rushers — or scheming up a free rusher with the perception of the blitz. But offenses have adjusted well to the team’s blitz packages, often getting the ball out before pressure arrives.
Injuries in the secondary, where they have yet to play with cornerback Byron Jones and Nik Needham sustained a season-ending injury last month, have also led to running Cover 0 — a man-to-man, blitz concept with no deep safety — at a lesser rate this season. In 2021, the Dolphins used Cover 0 on a league-leading 12.4 percent of opposing dropbacks. This season, that figure has decreased to 9.3 percent, which ranks second to the New York Giants.
With Chubb’s arrival, the Dolphins could slowly undergo a philosophical change on defense — or at least have a curveball in certain matchups. Instead of leaning on extra rushers, the Dolphins could blitz at a lesser rate, opt to put more players in coverage and force quarterbacks to throw into tighter windows.
The extra half second a passer is forced to hold onto the ball could be the difference in a sack, pressure or hit for the Dolphins’ speedy pass rush tandem. And if they want their playoff aspirations to materialize, their pass defense will have to improve against the better quarterbacks in the NFL.
“Obviously, if you’re rushing with four and you’re getting pressure with four, you have more guys in coverage,” defensive coordinator Josh Boyer said. “I’m not real good with math, but I do know the more guys you put in coverage, usually, you have an opportunity to do things a little bit more multiple than you do the more guys that you send. I think it’s dependent on how you feel about your matchups week to week and what you feel like the offense is doing to you on how you use guys and where you put them. I think that’s kind of — is it advantageous? You can get a sack on a three-man rush, or you could rush eight and have really good coverage in the back end. It goes hand-in-hand, but I would say it opens up a lot more avenues to you from a coverage perspective when you can rush with four.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 1:00 PM.
