Once the 2026 NFL year started on Wednesday at 4 pm, the Bills wasted no time adding to their roster, signing EDGE Bradley Chubb to a three-year deal.
Chubb comes to Buffalo after he was released as a post-June 1 cut by the Miami Dolphins. During his time in Miami, he had production but also a serious injury, which made the Dolphins’ investment age poorly. He was once the fifth overall pick in the 2018 draft and has had four seasons of eight sacks or more. This is an incredibly talented player who has had his career significantly affected by injury.
Read below for a detailed breakdown of Bradley Chubb’s injury history and analysis.
Injury History
High School
2012 Junior year
Left ACL tear, September.
Chubb tore his left ACL running during a play during a football game in September of his junior year, ending his season. He was able to return the following year and earn his scholarship to NC State.
NFL
2018 Denver Broncos
No publicly reported injuries.
2019 Broncos
Knee, Week 3, missed 0 games.
Chubb was on the injury report in Week 4 following a knee injury in Week 3. It’s unclear which knee or how he injured it. He did not have a designation heading into Week 4.
Calf injury, Left Partial ACL tear, Week 4, placed on IR, missed 12 games.
Chubb suffered two injuries in the Week 4 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He first suffered a calf injury, which forced him to briefly leave the game before he was able to return. He then suffered a partial ACL tear in his left knee in the fourth quarter with 14 minutes left. He had to briefly leave the game before he returned to finish. He felt discomfort in his knee the following day, and an MRI revealed that he had a partial tear that required surgery, ending his season.
2020 Broncos
Left Knee, Preseason, missed 0 games.
Chubb was on the injury report for the first two weeks of the season as he continued to recover from his ACL tear from the previous season. He admitted that he was not 100 percent yet.
Ankle, Week 6, missed 0 games.
Chubb was limited in the Wednesday practice before returning to full participation for the remainder of the week and had no designation for Week 7.
Neck, Week 14, missed 0 games.
He was on the injury report for a neck injury heading into Week 15 as a limited participant that Wednesday, but had no designation the following Sunday.
Ankle, Week 15, missed 2 games.
Chubb suffered an ankle sprain in the third quarter of the loss to the Buffalo Bills and did not return. He was unable to practice most of the next week, where he was initially questionable and later inactive. He attempted to try for Week 18 to play, but he was downgraded and missed the last two games of the season. Based on this presentation, I suspect he had a high-ankle sprain.
2021 Broncos
Right Ankle surgery, offseason.
He underwent a right ankle arthroscopic surgery in May 2021 to remove a bone spur and rehabbed until early August to return to the field. As he ramped up, he missed the season opener and spent two weeks on the injury report.
Left Ankle surgery, Preseason/Week 3, on IR, missed 9 total games.
Chubb suffered another ankle injury in preseason practice as he ramped back up from his right ankle surgery in late August. He tried to manage it conservatively and missed the season opener as a result. He played in Week 2 before the ankle began bothering him again. Surgeons then went in to remove a bone spur, which placed him on injured reserve.
Ankle, Week 12, missed 0 games.
He was on the injury report ahead of Week 13 after his first game back, practicing in full on Thursday and Friday before he returned to play in 30 snaps in Week 12 and 38 in Week 13, starting both games.
Shoulder, Week 13, missed 0 games.
Despite suffering a shoulder injury in Week 13, Chubb played through the injury as he spent the last four weeks on the injury report.
Illness, Week 17, missed 1 game.
Chubb did not play in Week 17, according to pro-football-reference.com. He was not a pre-game scratch, but he does not appear in the NFL Game Book as a substitute or did not play that week.
2022 Broncos/Miami Dolphins
Knee, Week 16, missed 0 games.
After being traded from Denver, where he didn’t have any publicly reported injuries that season, Chubb suffered a knee injury, popping up as limited in practice ahead of Week 16. He was designated as questionable and played in just 28 snaps.
Ankle/Right Hand Fracture, Week 16, missed 1 game.
Chubb was once again on the injury report for an ankle issue, but also for a broken right hand. He was spotted at practice with a black cast on the right side and was questionable to play before ultimately being downgraded to out. He spent the rest of the season on the injury report, managing the injury.
2023 Dolphins
Knee, Week 12, missed 0 games.
He was limited on Wednesday and Thursday of that week before he practiced in full on Friday and had no designation heading into Week 13.
Right ACL, Meniscus, Patellar tendon tear, Week 17, on IR, missed 2 games.
In a blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Chubb attempted to cut back to tackle running back Melvin Gordon III when his right knee collapsed, tearing his ACL, meniscus, and patellar tendon. This damage was so extensive that it required five hours to repair. A clip of how he injured his knee can be found here.
2024 Dolphins
Missed the entire season (17 games) rehabbing from an ACL tear.
Chubb did return to the practice field ahead of Week 14 as the Dolphins opened his practice window to see how he responded, but shut him down and declared that he would not return to play in 2024.
2025 Dolphins
Shoulder/Foot, Week 8, missed 0 games.
Chubb appeared on the injury report ahead of Week 9 with shoulder and foot injuries that limited him in practice and left him questionable in Week 9 and 11, but he played through both issues. He was on the injury report for the foot issue until Week 13.
Buffalo Bills Injury Analysis
Chubb has missed 44 games due to injury since entering the league in 2018. Keep in mind, 31 of those games were due to ACL tears, and another nine were due to his bone spur in his ankle in 2021. Otherwise, he’s only missed 4 games due to an illness, a hand fracture, and a late-season ankle injury. Either Chubb plays through the injury, or the injury is so severe that he physically can’t step on the field. There’s very little gray area there.
Looking at the injuries in terms of levels of concern, the shoulder, minor knee injuries, neck, calf hand fracture, ankle injury, and why he didn’t play in Week 17 of the 2021 season are of no concern. It’s a contact sport.
The ankle surgeries are noteworthy, but they were completed to remove bone spurs in each ankle. He hasn’t missed a game since those surgeries due to the ankles, in fact, he’s only been on the injury report once since then for the ankle/hand fracture which the latter caused him to miss. I don’t anticipate that these will continue to be a problem unless he suffers another new ankle injury, such as a high or low ankle sprain. The problem appears to have been addressed and is in the past.
There was not a lot of readily available information regarding his college injuries, and his game log states he didn’t miss more than one or two games a season.
The biggest concerns are the three ACL tears, two to the left and one to the right. I included the high school tear as that’s a notable part of his history. The first ACL tear was in 2012 in high school. We see increased risk for ACL tears in younger athletes, thought of due to age, but recent research has shown that genetic factors, joint hypermobility, and muscle imbalances, among other factors, play a bigger role in ACL tears than age alone. He may have been growing or had a more predisposed risk due to how he’s built, which could have contributed to his later issues.
His knee injuries were quite far apart, with the first one being in 2012, the second one being in 2019, and the third one being in 2023. Usually, we see an increased risk of re-tearing or tearing the contralateral side within two years of the first one. That didn’t apply in this case.
He was able to show that the first two ACL tears largely didn’t affect his production or draft stock as he still got a scholarship to NC State after his high school tear and after his 2019 tear, came back the next season and played in 14 out of 16 games in over 70 percent of the snaps in which he did not exit due to injury. In those games, he was able to secure 7.5 sacks and 42 total tackles.
His most recent ACL tear, which involved the patellar tendon, was the most severe and cost him an entire season. Patellar tendon tears are some of the most difficult injuries to return from, with 55.4 percent returning to play at all. Only 21.4 percent of players return to their prior level of performance within two years of their injury. Furthermore, only 16 percent of players return to play in as many games as they did two years prior. Overall, we see a dip in production with smaller chances to return to pre-injury levels.
Furthermore, you have to consider that he also suffered an ACL and meniscus tear on that same play, along with likely some MCL and potentially cartilage damage as well. The return to play for ACL/MCL tears is 70.8 percent, and 43.5 percent of those return to the prior level of performance. He had a lot of damage to that knee that would have been hard for anyone to return from.
Add in those factors and realize that Chubb played in 17 games last year and collected 8.5 sacks. By all accounts, Chubb beat the odds listed above. He may have some arthritic changes in the knees as he gets older, but the contract isn’t super long to worry about rapid degenerative changes.
At face value seeing that the Bills signed a player entering his age-30 season with three ACL tears, I think, what the hell are they doing?
But once you dig into his injury history, you see that he has to have suffered a significant injury in order not to play. You see the odds he’s overcome to return from the ACL tears. He played in 17 games last season and got 8.5 sacks, which would have led the Bills last year, 1.5 more than Greg Rousseau who’s making on average $20 million a season.
Chubb will be tied for the 29th most expensive edge rusher according to Over The Cap going into 2026 at $14.5 million. The only way you’re getting a top edge rusher is if you draft and develop, trade and give up assets, or sign in free agency. They’ve drafted and extended Greg Rousseau, we hear Brandon Beane is always in on trades, and we’ve taken shots on Von Miller and Joey Bosa with underwhelming results.
The way the contract is probably structured, it’s possibly closer to a two-year deal with an out in year three which is palatable. I want to hate this, but he’s beaten the odds on the return to play and performance from what we see in the research. Edge rushers are expensive and the Bills are getting a sizable injury discount. He also got released due to being too expensive on a rebuilding Dolphins roster.
Update: This contract is closer to a 2-year deal and hedges against injury.
Final Thoughts
While the best predictor of future injury is past injury, there is a risk in signing him like every player. Will Bradley Chubb get hurt again? Sure, he plays football. But it will take a significant injury to keep him out. The cost is reasonable given the market as well. If they signed him at the end of 2023 or 2024, I don’t like this.
Looking at everything, it’s a solid signing. The price is fair, he’s shown he can still play at a high level as evident by last year’s production, and they’re not committed too long. There’s a reason these guys are available in free agency, but this provides value and production, something we don’t always get out of free agency acquisitions.
I’d like to welcome Bradley Chubb to Buffalo and to remain healthy this season.
Top Photo Credit: NFL.com
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