Bradley Chubb Drops BOMBSHELL: Dolphins Faked It Last Season!
For years, the Miami Dolphins have been a team with promise that simply can’t seem to fulfill it. Season after season, the franchise comes up short, with many pointing to one core issue: the team’s culture.
It’s become something of a broken record in Miami — a cycle of underachievement followed by vows that things will finally change. And here we are again. The Dolphins say the culture is shifting, but the real question is: Do they actually mean it this time?
Veteran edge rusher Bradley Chubb isn’t so sure the Dolphins were ever serious about changing in the first place. In fact, he openly admitted that last year, the team was faking it.
“I’m going to say last year, we were lying honestly,” Chubb told reporters. “Point blank, period. We put our toe in the water, but we didn’t dive all the way in. We weren’t making the effort to go the extra mile.”
Chubb believes that this season, things are genuinely different — not just in words, but in mindset and daily actions. The Dolphins, according to him, are finally buying into the change they only pretended to embrace in 2024.
“This year, we’re doing that. I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out, but we’re actually making the effort,” Chubb said.
But even as players insist they’re all-in this time, there’s an uncomfortable truth: how many times can you go back to the drawing board before you have to make bigger changes?
At some point, it stops being about tweaking the locker room or slogans on the wall. It becomes about changing the leadership. And head coach Mike McDaniel’s future could be tied to whether this latest culture shift actually sticks.
When told of Chubb’s admission that last year’s buy-in was surface level at best, McDaniel had a sharp but philosophical response.
“It would have been awesome if he would have told me on the front end when they were lying,” McDaniel said. “But I’m much more concerned with 2025. I’m focused on what we’re doing now, not whose fault it was.”
McDaniel is known for his quirky, lighthearted coaching style — last season, he even started team meetings at 24 minutes after the hour to remind players it had been 24 years since Miami’s last playoff win. But all the humor in the world doesn’t matter if the team isn’t taking the serious parts seriously.
This year, McDaniel is emphasizing accountability. Being on time. Calling out teammates who need to step up. Expecting players to accept criticism and correct their behavior — quickly.
“The football program has to focus on football,” McDaniel said. “It’s OK to call someone out when they deserve to be called out, and for those people, it’s OK to be called out as long as you change your [expletive] behavior.”
Still, it’s tough to suddenly flip the switch after three years of leniency. Can McDaniel, in his fourth season, truly reset expectations in a way the locker room will respect?
Chubb believes the shift isn’t coming from McDaniel changing who he is — it’s coming from the players finally deciding to accept his leadership and hold each other to a higher standard.
“It’s not necessarily him changing,” Chubb said. “It’s more about us… the buy-in of the players has changed.”
Maybe this time the Dolphins really are different. Maybe. But fans — and likely the front office — will want to see proof on the field before they believe it.
Because if 2025 ends the way so many past seasons have, the next culture change in Miami might involve a new head coach. And maybe, just maybe, that would be the change that finally sticks.
