There was plenty of focus on a culture change prior to the Miami Dolphins' 2024 campaign.
Dealing with a torn ACL, Bradley Chubb didn't play a down for the Dolphins last year, but he was close enough to see any talk of a difference in ethos was a farce.
"I'm going to say last year, we were lying, honestly," Chubb said this week, via team transcript. "Point blank, period. We felt it. We put our toe in the water, but we didn't dive all the way in. We didn't get all the way there with each other. We weren't making the effort to go the extra mile and I would say this year, we're doing that."
Mired by injuries and underlying disharmony, Miami turned in an underwhelming 8-9 2024 season. It was the franchise's first losing campaign since 2019 and it seemed evident that a lack of team chemistry was prevalent.
Ahead of the season, changing the Dolphins culture was a prevailing topic, with the team aiming for a more united front and a tougher exterior, perhaps doing away with the narrative that's followed them of struggling outside sunny Miami and against physical opposition.
Chubb, the now-retired Terron Armstead and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa were among many in the pod who were sidelined during the season with injuries. Meanwhile, the prolific Dolphins offense went from No. 2 in points scored and No. 1 in total offense in 2023 to No. 22 and No. 18, respectively. Miami was 3-6 on the road and after a season-opening win was never above .500 again. Perhaps most notably, the year culminated with wide receiver Tyreek Hill exiting the team's season finale before the final whistle, concluding a season marked by a wrist injury and subpar production.
This offseason, however, is different, Chubb believes -- even though that was the same narrative offered a year ago.
"I'm not sure how it's going to turn out for us, but we are putting forth that foot to change it because last year, like I said, we said we wanted to change, yeah, we're doing this, we're doing that; but it's not going exactly how we want to," Chubb said. "But this year, I feel like everybody has the right mindset and moving forward, so if it works out, it's going to work out. If it doesn't, we're going to get back to the drawing board and make sure it works out."
Snapping a five-season playoff drought, the Dolphins made back-to-back postseason trips in 2022-2023. However, they were one and done on each occasion as the club still longs for a playoff victory, something the Dolphins haven't achieved since the 2000 season.
With a roster brimming with high-priced talent, there was plenty of needed roster shuffling ahead of last season and there's been plenty this year, too. Notably, the team lost Calais Campbell and Armstead, two of the team's most respected leaders.
Jalen Ramsey remains on the trade block and his departure seems as though it’s more of a when than an if. So, all is not sunshine and rainbows in South Beach as the long-sought culture change is still to be strived for.
"It would have been awesome if he would have told me on the front end when they were lying," McDaniel said Thursday when asked about Chubb's comments. "Beyond that, 2024, unless I'm using it directly for an analogy, I'm much more concerned with 2025. I think you do a lot more for the organization if you spend your time thinking forward in terms of not this, that, or the other, or whose fault it was. No, we want it like this, let's do it like this and this is who we are. I don't even -- what year did you speak of? I guess I'll read about that in history books."
Chubb is looking forward, though, and is optimistic his teammates will finally buy in and change their outlook and fortunes. Along that gaze, he also underscored that it's not about McDaniel -- who coached the team to playoff berths in each of his first two seasons at the helm -- altering his approach, it's about the guys on the field.
"It's not necessarily him changing," Chubb said. "It's more about us, man, about how we accept what he's telling us. Like he may have a joking way of getting a serious point across, but it's up to us in the room to be like, 'Okay, he might have said it funny, but at the end of the day, this is what we're doing and this is how we're moving about it and as a team, this is what we're going to do.'
"So not much of him has changed. I would say the people around him and the buy-in of the players that he wants has changed and guys are taking accountability of how we want it to look out here because he can only do so much in terms of with the game plan, the team meetings and all that, prepping and putting us in the right position; but we've got to go out there and execute."
