Among the many disappointments that Miami Dolphins fans suffered through in 2025 was the sophomore slump of 2024 first-round pick Chop Robinson. After a strong rookie season that featured six sacks and plenty of impressive wins as a pass rusher, the Penn State product spent most of 2025 struggling to make any impact whatsoever.
Luckily, the hiring of new head coach Jeff Hafley is already giving Robinson reason to be excited about his third season with the Dolphins. According to C. Isaiah Smalls II of the Miami Herald, the explosive edge rusher feels like the scheme Hafley is bringing to the table in Miami is exactly what he needs to get back on track.
“It’s different compared to last year because I’m not dropping into coverage and stuff like that,” Robinson said of Hafley's defense. “Now, it’s just kind of set the edge and get the quarterback, so that’s kind of what I like. It’s not a lot of thinking, so you just go out there and play.”
Chop Robinson seems ready to break out in Miami Dolphins' new defense
If there is one thing a dynamic athlete like Robinson wants to do off the edge, it's hunt the quarterback. Not to say there is anything wrong with occasionally dropping pass rushers into coverage or having them contain-rush to keep mobile QBs in the pocket, but that's not what you draft a player like Robinson to do.
Hafley knows what it's like to have an uber-explosive edge that can move around the formation. Not that I am trying to compare Robinson to Micah Parsons, but the ideas that Hafley cooked up for him in Green Bay could potentially be utilized in Miami as well.
With a lack of bulk currently among really any of their edge room, getting creative with how they are deployed will be one of Hafley's top priorities in his first season as HC. Whether that means using different formations or mixing and matching personnel, he must find ways to play the run hard enough to get guys like Robinson opportunities to rush the passer.
Perhaps simplifying the front's responsibilities, as Chop alluded to, can help him and others learn to set the edge more consistently than they would otherwise. Even if they don't, it's hard to imagine that we won't see serious improvement from the Dolphins as a pass-rushing unit in 2026.
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