Chubb missed the entirety of the 2024 NFL season after tearing his ACL, patellar tendon and meniscus in 2023. The restructure reduces his base salary but keeps his prior contract’s full earnings potential of $21 million intact via “various playtime and sack incentives.”

Jackson writes that keeping Chubb on his current contract, which has a $28.6 million cap hit, is “unrealistic” for Miami. The team could designate him as a post-June 1 cut and save $19 million in cap space, but that money wouldn’t free up until after June 1 and thus couldn’t help the Dolphins in the initial wave of free agency. If the Dolphins instead were able to talk Chubb, who missed all of last season after a devastating late-2023 knee injury, into a pay cut, they could use that money at the start of free agency. That’s the exact script that worked on Terron Armstead last week. Chubb is entering his age-29 season and is coming off an 11-sack season in 16 games in 2023, so if teams believe he’s healthy, he would make for an interesting free agent.

His three-week window expires later this week. McDaniel said that Chubb wasn’t ready to “be the player he expects” after working on his torn ACL, patellar tendon, and meniscus for three weeks. Chubb is due a $29.3 million cap number in 2025 and could be a potential target for a post-June 1 cut if the Dolphins are looking to free up cap space. Releasing him normally would save the Dolphins just $1.9 million.

Chubb practiced in a limited capacity all week. If active, expect the Dolphins to keep the veteran pass rusher on a snap count. Chubb is impressively returning from a multi-tissue knee injury that probably could have been a career-ender in some cases.