Denver Broncos: 5 Players We’ll be Watching in Baltimore

Is Chubb living up to the hype?

It’s not that Bradley Chubb is playing poorly.  It’s not even that he’s less visible than we anticipated.

We thought we were getting the reincarnation of DeMarcus Ware on the right side and what we’re learning is that Ware was indeed a special talent, not to be replicated and that Chubb, touted as possibly the best individual player in this year’s draft, may be struggling with the speed and strength of NFL linemen.

Chubb on the season has six tackles (3 solo) and half-a-sack.  For comparison, Von Miller has 12 tackles, four sacks and two forced fumbles.

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While the comparison may be unfair as nobody in the league outside of Khalil Mack performs like Von Miller, it illustrates that while Miller is wreaking havoc from the left side, it’s not translating into more opportunity for Chubb on the right. Chubb and Miller are not feeding off of each other like Miller and Ware did.  While that chemistry was immediate in the case of Miller/Ware, it is taking more time to develop in Chubb/Miller.

Bradley may get more opportunity this week, Oakland has one of the better offensive lines in the league.  NFL line rankings at ProFootballFocus have the Raiders rated seventh while the Ravens come in at 24th, near the bottom of the league.

Chubb still has an opportunity to be a deciding factor in Denver Broncos games, like the team as a whole, he is in need of a breakout performance to establish himself and validate his lofty draft position.