Denver sent Bradley Chubb and a 2025 fifth-round pick to…

Denver and Miami completed the Bradley Chubb trade at the 2022 deadline with a package that is clearer when each incoming asset is kept separate. Denver sent Chubb and a 2025 fifth-round pick to the Dolphins. Miami sent running back Chase Edmonds, a 2023 first-round pick, and a 2024 fourth-round pick to the Broncos. The first-rounder was the premium piece of the return, but Edmonds and the fourth-rounder were independent assets rather than part of one combined draft item.

Miami made the trade to add an established edge rusher to a roster built to contend immediately. Chubb had already produced 5.5 sacks in eight games for Denver that season, and the Dolphins followed the acquisition with a long-term extension. His Miami tenure included productive stretches, but it was interrupted by injuries. When the Dolphins released him in March 2026, the team credited him with 41 games, 40 starts, and 22 sacks across his 2022-25 Miami seasons.

Denver chose a different value path. Chubb was nearing the point at which the Broncos would have needed to make a major contract decision, so the trade converted that decision into a first-round selection, a fourth-round selection, and Edmonds. Later transactions involving those draft assets created additional branches in Denver’s roster history, but players chosen by later holders should not be credited to this trade as though the Broncos selected them directly. The correct evaluation stops at the assets Denver actually received.

That distinction strengthens Denver’s side without erasing Miami’s football return. The Dolphins did acquire a legitimate starting pass rusher who produced 22 sacks for them, so this was not a case of paying premium capital for no contribution. The problem for Miami is that the combination of the first-round cost, the additional fourth-round pick, and Chubb’s availability reduced the certainty of the long-term payoff.

Denver therefore retains the stronger realized-value case. The Broncos moved a valuable player before a new contract commitment and received the only first-round pick in the transaction plus two additional assets. Miami received meaningful pass-rush production, but the price and interrupted availability kept that production from matching the broader value Denver extracted from the deal.