Ranking Dolphins Top 25 Players: A Veteran Pass Rusher Returns

The Miami Dolphins are entering a critical season in 2025. After missing the playoffs last season and not making any blockbuster moves this offseason, the team is under a lot of pressure to finally get over the hump in the playoffs.

With that in mind, it seems like an excellent time to rank the Dolphins’ top 25 players heading into the 2025 season. This list was voted on by site publisher Alain Poupart (@PoupartNFL), deputy editor Dante Collinelli (@DanteCollinelli) and contributor Jake Mendel (@JMendel94).

The rankings were compiled separately based on a points system. That system awarded 25 points to the first player in each writer’s top 25, 24 to the second player, 23 to the third player, and so on.

No. 9: Bradley Chubb, Edge Rusher

Bradley Chubb hasn’t played football since the end of the 2023 season, missing all of last year with a torn ACL. However, he returned to the field for minicamp and hopes to regain his peak form in 2025.

Chubb’s talent alone should probably put him higher on this list. In the seasons when Chubb has played more than half of his team’s games, he’s recorded at least seven sacks, including his 11 sacks with the Dolphins in 2023.

He also had six forced fumbles that season and was well on his way to possibly earning a Pro Bowl spot before his injury.

The issue is just how many games Chubb has missed over the years. Besides missing all of last season, Chubb was limited to four games in 2019 and seven in 2021. He’s now had two torn ACLs in the league, the first coming in 2019.

Like many of the Dolphins’ top players, there’s a massive “if” attached to Chubb’s production.

However, assuming he’s somewhere close to his top form, Chubb could help the Dolphins’ edge rusher room carry the defense. Pairing him with Chop Robinson and Jalean Phillips (another oft-injured player) is an impressive group of pass rushers.

They’ll also have plenty of pass-rush juice on the interior from Zach Sieler and perhaps rookie first-round pick Kenneth Grant.

That group has enough talent to make up for some of the holes the Dolphins will have in the secondary this season. Chubb probably shouldn’t be expected to carry the load at any point, but if he’s good enough to keep double teams off players like Robinson and Sieler, that’s a solid start.

The veteran pass rusher will also likely have an important role as a leader in the locker room. Chubb took a pay cut to remain in Miami, and he has spoken pretty openly about how the team’s culture wasn’t good enough in 2024.

“Culture” and leadership are hard to quantify from the outside, but it’s clear that Chubb knows things need to be different this coming season, and his talent should give him the platform to help with that.

Ultimately, if Chubb stays healthy and is mildly productive rushing the pass, it’ll be a win for the Dolphins.

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