Organized Team Activities, or OTAs, are taking place around the league and it is a sight for sore eyes for football fans that haven’t seen their teams in action since January. As is the case for the Miami Dolphins, who missed the playoffs in 2024 for the first time in three years.
The Dolphins fans are on the verge of another first, as this season represents the first time since November of 2023 that the team will see their two premiere edge talents share the field together. Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips have been the victims of a torrent of a lower body injuries. The duo played a combined total of 134 snaps last season, but head coach Mike McDaniel provided an encouraging update after the first session of OTAs.
“Both (Chubb and Phillips) have basically made their off-season an in-season with how they approach their work,” McDaniel told a room of reporters. “As a result, they’re both able to really participate in most things, most days, being cautious and using the science on their recovery… So some days, (depending) on what day you’re out there, you’ll probably see one, if not both…but very happy with where they’re at, and know that they’re as excited as ever. I mean, they’re the most excited practice players of all time right now.”
The Phins Are Finally Going To Have A Good Pass Rush
I’m not here to make any hot takes, that’s not what we do here. But I am here to tell you that, if you didn’t know already, that the Miami Dolphins are going to have a good pass rush in 2025. Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Chop Robinson, and freshly drafted Kenneth Grant quietly make up one of the best front fours you can find in the league.
“Despite the group’s injury concerns, the trio does inspire some optimism,” ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques wrote before the draft. “Since 2022, Chubb, Phillips and Robinson all rank among the 25 best pass rushers in the league in pressure rate. No other team features three players in the top 25 of that category.”
Three players in the top 25 in pressure rate with the addition of a 330 pound true nose tackle spells trouble for opposing offensive lines. Another potential improvement indicator comes in the form of defensive continuity. For the first time since 2022, the Dolphins will enter next season with the same defensive coordinator from the year prior, Anthony Weaver.
Weaver spoke on seeing the trio in action.
“I think we all have seen, from all three players, what they’re capable of,” defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said. “So the idea of having all three of them available and on the field at the same time … you completely opened up Pandora’s box for me and you just start thinking of ways you can use them in multiple positions and really scare and intimidate offenses. So it would certainly be awesome … it’d just be a lot of fun to see what we can do with all those three guys.”
Both Phillips and Chubb Coming Off ACLs
Bradley Chubb has now torn his ACL twice since 2019, most recently in Week 17 of 2023. This injury caused the pass rusher to, whether out of caution or necessity, miss the entirety of the 2024 season.
Jaelan Phillips, who is two years younger than his 28-year-old counterpart, is also coming off an ACL tear. This injury took place in Week 4 of last season and sidelined him for the remainder of the year. A crushing blow for the young star who had just rehabbed a torn Achilles in 2023.
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