Broncos Exercise OLB Bradley Chubb's Fifth-Year Option
Amid the Denver Broncos' roller-coaster NFL draft weekend, lost in the shuffle was the news of the team exercising the fifth-year option on Bradley Chubb. Chubb, a 2018 first-round pick (No. 5 overall), is coming off his third NFL season.
GM George Paton reacted to the news on Friday evening.
“That was one of the easier decisions that I have had today, I know that it was really easy," Paton said alongside head coach Vic Fangio. "Bradley, I hope, is going to be here for a long time. He is one of our core players on our football team.”
Chubb is coming off his first Pro Bowl nod as a pro, finishing the season with 7.5 sacks, 26 solo tackles, nine tackles for a loss, one forced fumble, and nine QB hits. The former N.C. State star stormed onto the NFL scene in 2018 by producing one of the best rookie campaigns for an edge rusher in league history.
Chubb's production that year put him on an elite list of sack artists only about 10 deep of players in NFL history with 12 or more sacks as a rookie. Not even Von Miller is on that list. But Chubb is. He owns the Broncos' single-season record for most sacks as a rookie.
Then, in Year 2, tragedy struck as Chubb tore his ACL in Week 4, costing him the rest of the season. He battled back in 2020 and posted a Pro Bowl campaign before getting nicked up down the stretch and ultimately missing the final two games.
However, if the Broncos weren't eliminated from the playoffs, it's doubtful Chubb would have missed those games. When the team had nothing to play for and one of their core young guys was nicked up, it wasn't worth risking him at anything less than 100%.
Fangio is geeked up about getting Chubb and Miller back together chasing quarterbacks and patrolling the edge in 2021.
“We’re expecting Bradley to have his best season that he has had in pro football thus far," Fangio said on Friday. "Last year, coming off of the injury was a lot to deal with. He wasn’t truly himself until some point mid-way through the season, but he was still playing good. Then he got nicked up there a little bit at the end, nothing serious. I think that he should have a really good season for us this year.”
Chubb will earn just north of $8 million as the former No. 5 overall draft pick. However, he'll be poised for a nice raise as his 2022 salary will balloon to $12.716M on that fifth-year option. Not bad for a 24-year-old guy.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.
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