Why Bradley Chubb believes quarantine is part of the reason he’ll be ready for Week 1

DENVER — Bradley Chubb was dealt a bad hand four games into his second year in the NFL when he tore his ACL for the second time in his football career.

He turned that sour lemon into lemonade.

“It sucks right now, but it’s going to make me a better person,” Chubb said on Oct. 1, 2019. “I’m looking forward to the journey. I’m looking forward to still being around this team, still being the guy and the leader that I need to be. Just because I’m sidelined with an injury doesn’t mean I can’t be Bradley Chubb. My main thing is just to try and take as much positive from this situation as I can and just move forward.”

Months later, in the heart of his rehab, COVID-19 struck the United States. That forced nearly the entire country — including the NFL — to shut down.

Once again, Chubb made the best out of another lousy, lousy hand.

“With Corona and everything getting shutdown, it allowed me to really actually like stay focused — it was kind of like the best thing to happen to me, honestly,” the 24-year old said. “I didn’t really feel like I was missing anything and didn’t really feel like, ‘Oh man, I could be doing this, but I’m doing this rehabbing, blah, blah, blah.’ I just got into a routine and it just made me hungrier and ready to go.”

For a significant portion of the offseason, the only players that were allowed in NFL facilities were players that were rehabbing from an injury. Instead of spending the offseason with 89 other teammates and coaches, as would have happened during every other offseason training program, Chubb spent his time in the facility with teammate Austin Fort — who is also rehabbing a torn ACL — head athletic trainer Vince Garcia, assistant athletic trainer Paul Burant and head strength and conditioning coach Loren Landow. That was it.

“We were just getting after it,” Chubb said, describing the relationship of the small group. “We were competing with each other every day and that little tightknit group, it helped me out a lot because just relying on each other and seeing each other every day. It kind of got tiring but at the same time, it was like we were in it together. It was pretty unique just to be here still in the facility and all that and go through it with those guys.”

Chubb’s rehab “thankfully” didn’t change one bit due to COVID-19.

The last time Chubb tore his ACL was when he was a junior in high school. Not surprisingly, this rehab process was “a lot smoother” as he was working with an NFL training staff. Being through the process once before gave him ample confidence knowing he could come back from it again.

On Tuesday, Vic Fangio stated Chubb was “pretty damn close” to being 100 percent healthy. With training camp slowly beginning to ramp up, Chubb and the Broncos are going to “play it smart” and slowly work the former No. 5-overall pick back into playing shape.

“Right now I haven’t really been doing anything like physical, like going against somebody and going against offensive lineman. So just working into it,” Chubb said on his process of getting back on the field. “I feel like, with my health-wise, that’s going to be the next step for me is just getting that whole confidence thing back. I feel like when we get into the flow of things, I’ll be good.”

The 6-foot-4, 275-pound pass rusher will wear a brace on the field.

While Chubb will be eased back into playing, the process will be completed by the Broncos’ opener on Sept. 14. On Friday, Chubb said there’s “no doubt” he’ll be full-go with no limitations come Week 1 of the season.

“I feel like I’ll be ready to go,” Chubb confirmed. “Easing back into practice, getting everything — my footwork and all that back to where it was — and I feel like I’ll be good for Week 1, for sure.”

After a dominant rookie season where at times it appeared he was going to break the rookie-sack record, Chubb took a step back in 2019 as he only logged one sack before the season-ending ACL injury. Because of that, he knows 2020 is a prove-it year for him.

“My rookie year, that’s two years ago. I’ve got to come back in with that same hunger that I had and with that same dog mentality that I had and just go out and prove everybody either right or wrong — whether they’re writing that I’m not going to be the same and prove them wrong, or if they’re expecting great things out of me, prove them right,” Chubb stated without hesitation. “My main thing is to play football like Bradley Chubb knows how to play football and I feel like it’ll all take care of itself.”

Slowly but surely, the Astronaut — as Chubb nicknamed himself — is gearing up for liftoff.