Bradley Chubb is a Defensive Player of the Year Candidate

After a strong rookie season for the Denver Broncos, it seems Bradley Chubb is flying under the radar as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

The Denver Broncos were very fortunate to land Bradley Chubb in the 2018 NFL Draft.

There was some early buzz that Chubb would be the top overall selection. Even up to a month before the draft, the Cleveland Browns were rumored to be linked to Chubb. The Browns decided to take cornerback Denzel Ward instead, and Chubb fell to the Broncos pick with the fifth selection. The landing spot was certainly a blessing in disguise for him.

Chubb would learn from arguably the greatest pass rusher in the game today in Von Miller. Like DeMarcus Ware taught Von Miller, now Miller becomes the teacher to Chubb, learning the tricks of the trade of becoming an elite player. Chubb struggled early on but his breakout could not have come at a more pivotal point in the season for him. He made one of the top veteran left tackles — Los Angeles Rams veteran LT Andrew Whitworth — look silly in the Los Angeles Rams game last season. It was a moment that put him in the Hollywood spotlight against a team that would go on to win the NFC.

There are many things that make Chubb a special player. There is his pure strength to push the tackles backward. That’s what we call a bull rush. It is a bully tactic to get to the quarterback. He does not have the dip and bend we’ve seen from Von Miller, but perhaps it is a move Chubb could learn. One thing to keep in mind here is Chubb is not as athletic or fleet of foot as Miller. Chubb can learn a number of movies from Miller to add to his arsenal of ways to hit the quarterback.

The other area that is already solid for Chubb is his run defense. If Chubb consistently shows discipline to stay home by not letting an offensive player get the edge he will be a darn near unstoppable player. This is another area where Miller has grown exponentially throughout his career with the Denver Broncos. This brings us to potentially the greatest reason of all for Chubb being a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

The Denver Broncos hired Vic Fangio as head coach of the team this off-season. Fangio comes from the Chicago Bears where he coached Khalil Mack this past season. In a scary comparison, Mack parallels Chubb in talent. Both are tremendous in using their strength as we outlined above and gifted in the art of forcing turnovers.

Chubb already saw this bear fruit against the San Francisco 49ers in preseason where he strip-sacked CJ Beathard. He also created pressure off the edge forcing an errant pick by Jimmy Garoppolo to Issac Yiadom.

These are game-breaker players. It’s unheard of to have two possible Defensive Player of the Year candidates in Von Miller and Bradley Chubb. Chubb must learn to continue to feast and provide a killer instinct to become closer in games.

Players that rise to a bigger stage are ones that are true Defensive Player of the Year candidates every season. Under Fangio, the Broncos could see tremendous potential and production from players like Miller and Chubb. It is not far fetched to think Chubb could achieve 15 to 17 sacks regularly.

15 to 17 sacks is also high enough to put your name in the Defensive Player of the Year category with a potential killer instinct from Chubb. NFL voters beware. There’s a chance Chubb will be on the ballot for Defensive Player of the Year.