March 22, 2026, 11:20 a.m. ET

The early years of the Mike McDaniel Era for the Miami Dolphins had a different feel, especially in 2023, when the team did some unbelievable things, like dropping 70 points on the Denver Broncos in Week 3.

Performances like that had fans and players believing that the sky was the limit for the Dolphins, including linebacker Bradley Chubb.

Chubb, who was released this offseason and has found a new home with the rival Buffalo Bills, recently appeared on former Dolphins offensive tackle Terron Armstead’s podcast and spoke about the 2023 team.

“I feel like 100%, man, with the talent we had, the buy-in we had, the mindset we had, I feel like, I heard you allude to this on a different episode, but we just couldn’t stay healthy,” Chubb said. “It was just like devastating injury after devastating injury after devastating injury. It was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

“So it was hard to get the mojo back, but bro, I’m telling you, Week 3, when we played Denver, we put up 70. I said, bro, we’re winning the Super Bowl by 50 points. It doesn’t matter who we play. And one thing I wish we did that season, though, was finish out those tough games that got us the label of, oh, they can’t play the hard game. You know what I mean? They can’t win the hard game. But then we came back and beat Dallas at home. You know what I mean? And I was like, OK, we’re getting over this hump. So yeah, 2023 was special, man, for not only me, personally, but as a team and growing together. I feel like that was a special year for sure.

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That 2023 team finished with an 11-6 record, the best they had in McDaniel’s four years in Miami. However, they fell short of their goal, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs 26-7 in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

By the end of the season, Chubb, Jaelan Phillips, Jerome Baker and Andrew Van Ginkel were all on injured reserve. Who knows what the team could’ve accomplished had they had even one or two of those linebackers healthy?

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