If fans took the time to scroll through Bradley Chubb’s social media accounts recently, they’ll have noticed that the Buffalo Bills’ newest big ticket free-agent signing spent the beginning part of February out West.
Sporting a big smile, a black suit, and a gold chain, accompanied by his fiancée and brother, Chubb can be seen in pictures and videos celebrating at a Roc Nation Sports pre-party prior to Super Bowl LX between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.
The player affectionately nicknamed ‘Astronaut’, as evidenced by his handle on Instagram and X, was amongst the stars in Santa Clara, California — a fitting place to be for the former fifth-overall pick out of North Carolina State University.
Still, something wasn’t quite right.
Failing to reach the NFL equivalent of landing on the moon thus far in his eight-year career, Chubb didn’t want to be the one watching others battle it out on the world’s biggest stage that weekend.
No . . . he wanted the world to be watching him.
So, when rumblings began to emerge in the coming days and weeks that the 6-foot-4, 268-pound EDGE defender might be on the move from a Miami Dolphins team that had just acquired him three seasons prior in a blockbuster trade with the Denver Broncos, Chubb knew exactly what he was looking for in his next team.
It didn’t matter what the area code was or what the weather would be like.
Chubb just wanted to win.
And, having faced off against quarterback Josh Allen and the Bills twice a year — sometimes more — since joining the Dolphins back in November of 2022, he feels Buffalo is the place to do just that.
“Just kind of going back and forth with my agent about different teams, different opportunities, and I felt this one presented the best opportunity to go out there and win, and that’s what I told him at the beginning of the offseason before I even got released. I was like, ‘Man, I went to the Super Bowl. I saw what it was like. I saw the atmosphere. I saw the feeling (amongst everybody), and I just want to win.’ I want to make sure I win . . . and I feel like this (deal) put me in the best position to do that,” Chubb said during his introductory press conference with the local Buffalo media over Zoom last Thursday.
“I’ve seen it, you know? I’ve seen it, the past what . . . three-and-a-half years? Just a team that stays together through the hard times. And, down in Florida — we would have some close games — but it’s about how close these guys are, (and) how they just know how to win and pull out those close games, and I feel like that’s what it takes to get to the big stage. (We just need) a few pieces, and I feel like I’m one of those pieces to help us get over that hump.”
And while that all sounds fine and dandy . . . what makes it different with Chubb versus any of the other countless names that have passed through what seems like a revolving door of pass-rushers at One Bills Drive?
Trent Murphy, Mario Addison, Von Miller, Leonard Floyd, Joey Bosa . . . and let’s not even mention the failed draft picks.
Each one of those free-agent additions probably uttered the words “missing piece” at one point or another during the start of their tenure with the team, yet each one failed to be the promised closer that Buffalo has so desperately been searching for on the opposite side of the ball from their superstar quarterback.
So, the question is certainly fair . . . why Chubb?
Why will it work now?
Well, the answer is rather simple — the player and the scheme are a perfect fit. Or, as the former Bronco and Dolphin put it, they’re “a match made in heaven.”
With his career now seemingly coming around full circle in Buffalo, Chubb will be joining a defense under new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard that is a near carbon copy of the 3-4 scheme he played in when first entering the league as a rookie in 2018.
“It’s actually funny how life works,” Chubb said as he reflected back on his career up until now.
“(Vance Joseph’s) been the DC in Denver these past two years, and Coach Leonhard has came from that system . . . that’s kind of what I came into the league doing, and I had success doing my first year. So, I’m excited to get back into the system. I know he’s going to have his tweaks and do different things to it, but what he preached to me, man, was that it’s (pretty much) just going to be the same — getting after the quarterback, making sure we’re covering in the backend, making sure we’re up front wreaking havoc and playing good team defense.”
Drafted by Denver under Vance Joseph, who was previously the head coach in his first stint with the squad in 2017 and 2018, to pair, ironically, with the aforementioned Miller in hopes of regaining the defense’s dominant form that once helped propel the team to a Super Bowl victory of its own back in 2015 — just three short seasons prior to Chubb’s arrival in 2018 — the Broncos ultimately fell short of that resurgence, but it wasn’t due to a lack of production from the once prized rookie.
In fact, that opening campaign was one of the most productive seasons of his career that first year in Denver as Chubb burst onto the scene by starting all 16 games and registering 60 combined tackles, 21 quarterback hits, 14 tackles for loss, a career-high 12 sacks, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery en route to finishing third in the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year voting behind only Indianapolis Colts’ linebacker Shaq Leonard and Los Angeles Chargers’ safety Derwin James.
He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie team and was listed 82nd on the NFL’s Top-100, which is voted on by the players themselves.
From there, though, things began taking a turn for the worse for the former N.C. State Wolfpack standout, beginning with Joseph being dismissed from his coaching duties following the 2018 season, which forced Chubb to learn a new defensive system despite having so much success in his rookie debut.
Add in the unfortunate fact that the Marietta, Georgia, native went on to suffer a torn ACL in his left knee — the same one he tore as a senior in high school in 2012 — after just four games in 2019 and also suffered a dislocated ankle that cost him 10 games in 2021, it’s not hard to see why things inevitably didn’t pan out for Chubb in the state of Colorado.
In the end, however, the heartache endured in Denver prepared him for more tough times to come in Miami, which is where the pass-rusher ultimately landed after a trade occurred in the middle of the 2022 season.
Looking back at it now, in spite of everything . . . it’s all led him to Buffalo.
“I’m trying to win. I’m trying to go through a season where I’m not frustrated after every Monday coming into the building and upset like, ‘Man, we should have did this. We should have did that.’ And, you know, playing (the Bills) for three-and-a-half years, you see that they know how to win. They believe in themselves to win,” Chubb added.
“I wanted to be a part of this defense that I’ve seen wreck havoc against us (in Miami) a couple times and try to, like I said, get this team over that hump. And, I’m excited to take on that challenge.”
During the entirety of his tenure with Miami, Chubb finished with 134 total tackles, 54 quarterback hits, 20.5 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, nine forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries in 42 games played (41 regular season, 1 postseason).
After finishing out the 2022 campaign by helping the Dolphins make a postseason push following the trade, which coincidentally ended in a 34-31 loss in the Wildcard round at Highmark Stadium where the EDGE defender had one sack and one forced fumble in 28 snaps, it appeared as if the Dolphins’ newest addition was about to explode.
And, he did.
The ending just wasn’t what anyone was expecting.
“How my career has played out, you know, every time I pop off, and do what I’m supposed to do, it feels like something comes and gets me,” he said as he discussed his journey up until this point.
“I feel like that, in a sense, (it) is frustrating because people could start doubting and throwing doubt, ‘Oh, he’s not that, he’s not this.’ But, I know what I could do.”
In 2023 — the best season of his career — Chubb was as dominant as they come in Miami’s 3-4 look under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, tallying career-highs in tackles (73), quarterback pressures (70), quarterback hits (22), and forced fumbles (6), while also nearly matching career-highs in sacks (11) and tackles for loss (11), as well.
His performance helped the Dolphins to become a top-10 defense that season, and the team as a whole nearly stole the AFC East division away from the Bills — remember when Buffalo narrowly escaped with a 21-14 victory in Week 18 down in Miami that season?
Yeah, so does Chubb . . . he just wasn’t on the field.
The week prior against the Baltimore Ravens, on an inconsequential play late in the game with 3:14 remaining fourth quarter, Chubb tore his ACL again — this time in his right knee — while attempting to make a tackle for loss on running back Melvin Gordon, who ironically was no stranger to serious knee injuries of his own during his career.
In a video that can be seen while searching through ESPN Insider Adam Schefter’s page on X, CBS broadcast announcer Ian Eagle can be heard discussing the previous play as Chubb is screaming in agony on the field while holding his knee . . . an ending that nobody wanted to see after the year he had just put together.
The injury cost the defender the entirety of the 2024 season, and, although it wasn’t readily apparent at the time, it was seemingly the beginning of the end for Chubb’s tenure in sunny Florida.
The team would finish 8-9 in that season without him before going on to fall short of the postseason yet again in 2025, finishing with a 7-10 record that wound up leading to a complete organizational overhaul this offseason, allowing for Chubb’s eventual release from the Dolphins at the beginning of the 2026 new league year last Wednesday.
As previously mentioned, having faced the Bills numerous times since that fateful transaction between Denver and Miami in 2022, Chubb has given his newest employer a firsthand look over the past few seasons at just exactly what type of player they’ll be getting come September.
In his seven career games against Buffalo (1 with Denver, 6 with Miami), the pass-rusher has tallied 12 total tackles, seven quarterback hits, three sacks, and one forced fumble, which included four quarterback hits, three combined tackles, and one sack in his last meeting with the team — a 30-13 rout of the Bills down in Hard Rock Stadium last November.
The performance likely left a lasting impression on President of Football Operations and General Manager Brandon Beane, culminating in the free-agent union with Buffalo this March.
And while some may be skeptical of signing a player who has suffered three total ACL injuries in his career, there’s also plenty of optimism to be had surrounding the newest Buffalo Bill.
For starters, Chubb will be more than two years removed from the injury once the season starts this fall, which is often seen as the timetable for players to completely return to form.
He also wasn’t bad in 2025, not in the slightest.
In fact, his eight-and-a-half sacks would have been tops on the team in Buffalo last season had he already arrived in Western New York during the previous offseason.
On top of that, Chubb managed to collect 47 tackles, 20 quarterback hits, and eight tackles for loss in addition to his sack total, all while admittedly still getting his feet back under him, so to speak.
An even more encouraging sign for the longtime veteran, and one that may indicate he could age rather gracefully as a pass-rusher in his newfound home in Orchard Park, New York, specifically next season when he’ll still be freshly off his 30th birthday this June, is his pressure rate since that illustrious season in 2023 where he ranks seventh in the entire league with a rate of 16.4% just behind behind notable names like Trey Hendrickson (17.8%) and Myles Garrett (17.3%) — two players who have been rumored to be of interest of the Bills in recent offseasons.
So, needless to say, the Bills likely feel they’ve finally found their running mate for fellow EDGE defender Gregory Rousseau for at least the next few seasons.
And, now repping his old college number — 9 — Chubb will look to round into the form that scouts envisioned from him while he was donning the single digit in Raleigh, North Carolina, all those years ago.
It won’t be easy, and nothing is ever promised.
But, Chubb isn’t looking for promises or any easy routes given, not after the journey that he’s had so far in his football career.
He just wants a chance to reach the moon . . . and he feels Buffalo gives him the perfect launching pad to do it.
So, as he stood beside Brandon Beane looking out the window at his new stomping grounds after officially putting pen to paper on his free-agent contract last Thursday, the behemoth outside linebacker mentioned how eager and excited he was to play in the new stadium, especially considering the surface will be natural grass, which is conceivably more forgiving on players’ joints than the turf that was in the old iteration of Highmark.
And, while that’s all well and good, fans will certainly be more interested in just how many quarterback’s backsides will be hitting that grass by way of Chubb this fall.
If all goes as planned, there will surely be plenty of that happening.
He’s seen the Bills Mafia erupt while sitting on the opposing sidelines, feeling the occasional snowball being thrown from the crowd, and now he’s ready to join in on the fun.
“I want to beat my career-high (in sacks), which right now is 12. I want to get over that, and I’m going to work every day tirelessly in order to do that. I’ve come close in 2023 at 11. I feel like I still got more in the tank from that year. I feel like that was a good year for me, but I feel like I got more in the tank and can do even more. So, I’m excited to take on that challenge and make it happen,” Chubb said.
“I’m excited to see how rowdy (the fans) get. I’m excited to have them cheering for my team now. You know what I mean? You hear it when you’re in the stadium — it turns the team up when Bills Mafia is going crazy. And, like I said, throwing the snowballs and having fun with the elements, you know what I mean? That’s intimidating to the other sidelines. So, I’m excited to have that fuel me.”
Editor’s babble: Many thanks to John Green for his contributions to our blog. You can also find John on X @JGreen_PRsports.
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