Football eats the weak for breakfast. So a big, tough guy should hide fear and vulnerability under his helmet, buckle that chin strap and get back in the huddle. Right? Well, that’s how the stereotype goes.
Broncos outside linebacker Bradley Chubb, however, is more concerned about his mental health than how anybody might judge him.
A violent sport has battered his body and messed with his confidence. Maladies from a torn ACL in his knee to bone spurs in an ankle to COVID-19 have forced Chubb from the field, causing him to miss 24 of 65 games during his four-year pro career.
The rest of his body finally right, Chubb has humbly taken the smart move of going to work on the space between his ears. Rather than leaving that tough task to himself, Chubb started chatting regularly to a sports performance coach. The lesson here? Putting his mind at ease is as crucial as stretching out surgically repaired joints before each practice.
“It’s a matter of how I can meditate and immerse myself into having tunnel vision on the field. It’s almost like I hypnotize myself into thinking the job of football is the only thing that matters in my life when I go to work,” Chubb told me Friday, during a telephone interview after a voluntary spring workout with new quarterback Russell Wilson and Denver teammates.
Heading into a critical season when he could either break the bank with a big new contract or see his ties broken with the Broncos, Job No. 1 for Chubb is getting his head straight.
“Ninety percent of getting over injuries is mental,” Chubb said. “So I’m doing everything I can to make sure I’m in a good space and be the best football player possible for my teammates.”
Rushing the quarterback is hard enough without carrying mental baggage. Injuries can test a religious man’s faith. Chubb, however, has refused to surrender to the self-pity of asking: Why me?
“When I talk to God,” Chubb said, “it’s more like asking: What do you want from me? What are you trying to teach?”
Chubb is not Josh Allen. And never will be. A 275-pound linebacker selected by Denver at No. 5 overall in the 2018 NFL draft, two slots ahead of where Buffalo found a steal of a deal by grabbing Allen, will never be a franchise quarterback.
But if anybody still has a problem with John Elway’s draft error? That’s fine. Just don’t expect Chubb to get lost in your book of regret or define himself but what he’s not.
“I didn’t get to where I am by worrying about how you or anybody else thinks about me,” said Chubb, who recorded 12 sacks as a rookie but has been credited with taking down a quarterback only 7.5 times in three ensuing seasons marred by injury. “I don’t let nobody talk me into thinking about how I view myself.”
If Chubb feels the eyes of anybody on his back, the one person in football he has the greatest desire to please is former Broncos teammate Von Miller.
“When I was coming up in high school and college, he was my guy; he was the football player I wanted to be … When I got drafted by the Broncos and the first time I sat to him in a meeting room, it was scary crazy, because I was like, “Yeah, that’s Von Miller right there,’ even though I would never admit to him how impressed I was,” said Chubb, laughing at the pressure he felt to earn the respect of his sports idol.
“Von is the gold standard of pass-rushing. And he wasn’t afraid to share his knowledge with me or anybody else on the team. So everybody that puts on a Broncos uniform and rushes the quarterback … we all, not just me, feel an obligation to Von.”
While wearing a Broncos uniform, Chubb has never been to the playoffs or beaten Kansas City. During his four NFL seasons, Denver’s record is 25-40. Every defeat gnaws at the gut of Chubb, who takes losses as personally as anybody in the locker room.
“It’s a Revenge Tour all year long,” said Chubb, vowing to end a losing streak against the Chiefs. “When you keep coming up short against a team, you get animosity for them.”
The NFL is a bottom-line business. In a contract year, Chubb knows what’s at stake.
“When it comes to the business side of it, whatever happens at the end of the year happens,” Chubb said. “My job is to go out and help the Broncos win more games than we ever have in my five years. My job is getting as many sacks as Bradley Chubb has ever had in the NFL. That’s what Year Five is all about for me.”
