On Wednesday, the NFL officially began free agency, and within an hour, the Miami Dolphins lost Bradley Chubb to the division rival Buffalo Bills. Fans should absolutely blame Champ Kelly.
Kelly is still with the Dolphins as a member of the executive team. Jon-Eric Sullivan should consider changing that role. Chubb has been a leader in the Dolphins locker room and on the field when healthy. No fan will complain about his departure, because we all knew it was coming, but it should have happened last season.
In 2025, at the NFL trade deadline, Kelly received offers for Chubb. They weren't great, but they were offers, and yes, the Dolphins would have to eat a large portion of his salary. Fast forward to now, and the Dolphins are eating his salary, albeit spread over two seasons. Now, they have nothing in return besides having to face him twice a season.
Champ Kelly should be fired for not trading Miami Dolphins LB Bradley Chubb when he had the chance
Chubb was expected to be moved, but part of the reason he wasn't was that the Dolphins didn't have any pass rushers at the time. Chop Robinson was struggling, Matt Judon wasn't explosive, and Kelly had just traded Jaelan Phillips. Somewhere in all of this, the Dolphins still had hopes of turning around a season that no one outside believed was possible. The outsiders were right.
Chubb immediately joining the Bills is a bitter pill to swallow, and there is no way around that. Miami is paying Tua Tagovailoa to play for the Falcons. They are paying Chubb to play against them twice a year. Maybe they should hold a ceremonial exchange of a check at the 50 when the Bills visit Miami next season.
At least Dolphins fans can take comfort in knowing that the edge linebacker can still create problems for the Patriots and Jets.
Players leaving in free agency often land with rival teams. That isn't surprising, but in this case, the Dolphins could have had a hand in deciding where he went, with compensation in return. Now they only get to deal with his wrath twice a year.
Ultimately, Chubb's decision to join the Bills is no big deal for how the Dolphins will approach rebuilding their roster. Miami has a couple more years before it can honestly say it is relevant. By then, Chubb will probably be moving on. It's just disappointing that they could have had at least a draft pick in return and kept him out of the AFC East.