Bradley Chubb says Dolphins ‘were lying, honestly’ about culture change last season

Miami Dolphins edge rusher Bradley Chubb didn’t play last season due to injury, but he had a clear view of what went wrong as the team regressed to an 8-9 record. And this offseason, he’s not sugarcoating it. All the talk about team culture change in 2024? Chubb says it was just that — talk.

“I’m gonna say last year, we was lying, honestly,” Chubb said Wednesday. “Point blank. Period. We felt it, you know what I mean. We put our toe in the water, but we didn’t dive all the way in. We didn’t get all the way there with each other. We weren’t making the effort to go the extra mile.”

So, what makes this year different as the conversation resurfaces during minicamp, with players and coaches once again stressing a renewed commitment to culture?

“I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out for us, but we are putting forward that foot to change it,” Chubb said. “Last year, like I said, we said ‘We wanted to change that, we’re doing this, we’re doing that,’ but it’s not going exactly how we want to. But this year I feel like everybody has the right mindset and moving forward. If it works out it works out, if it doesn’t we’re going to get back to the drawing board and make sure it works out.”

Chubb missed the entire 2024 season while recovering from an ACL tear suffered in a New Year’s Eve matchup against the Ravens in 2023. At the time, Miami was a playoff contender, losing in the AFC Wild Card round. But without him in 2024, the Dolphins stumbled to a 2-6 start — a hole too deep to climb out of despite winning six of their final nine games.

Miami general manager Chris Grier said in April that reports of internal issues with players or team culture were “wildly inaccurate.” That came despite cornerback Jalen Ramsey being on the trading block and skipping mandatory minicamp, and wide receiver Tyreek Hill initially expressing a desire to leave the team before issuing an apology in February.

“The football program has to focus on football,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Wednesday. “For that to happen, there’s a lot of things that can’t dominate people’s time, which is like, first and foremost, being on time, being accountable to each other and staying to the rules. Feeling very open as a team that, ‘Hey, it’s okay to call someone out when they deserve to be called out.’ And for those people, it’s okay to be called out as long as you change your f—ing behavior, okay?”