Evaluating Phillips' Time in Miami and His First-Round Selection

Jaelan Phillips was one of first players the Miami Dolphins selected in the first two rounds in the 2020 and 2021 drafts

Miami Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips (15) celebrates after sacking Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence during the 2024 season opener. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Jaelan Phillips is gone after four-plus seasons with the Miami Dolphins, having been traded to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday morning.

Phillips had his moments during his time in Miami after arriving as the 18th overall selection in the 2021 NFL draft, but it's fair to look back at his body of work and wonder whether he lived up to his draft status.

In those four-plus seasons, Phillips played 55 games for the Dolphins with 38 starts, and 2025 was the only year where he started every game he played.

His stats including 26 sacks, 28 tackles for loss and 61 quarterback hits, with a career high of 8.5 sacks during his rookie season.

Unfortunately, Phillips' career was marred by injuries, notably the torn Achilles tendon he sustained on Black Friday in 2023 against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium and the torn ACL he sustained in the Week 4 Monday night game against the Tennessee Titans in 2024.

Phillips was able to rebound from those two setbacks to start every game for the Dolphins so far this season, and the stats are impressive in some ways, especially his nine QB hurries according to Pro Football Reference, which ranks tied for first in the NFL with DeMarcus Lawrence of the Seattle Seahawks.

But Phillips has a pretty low total of three sacks and has gotten more attention for his near-sacks against Justin Herbert of the Chargers in Week 6 and Lamar Jackson of the Ravens in Week 9 than those sacks he did record.

In the Pro Football Focus grading system, Phillips is ranked 55th among 118 edge defenders, easily the highest ranking among Dolphins players at that position — Bradley Chubb is next at 86th.

Maybe the best way to describe Phillips this season and throughout his Dolphins career has been a solid player, like a B type of player, maybe B-plus, and who knows whether the Dolphins would have been inclined to give him a contract extension if not for his extensive injury history, which unfortunately dates back to his days at UCLA.

Phillips also deserves credit for being an A-plus representative for the Dolphins as the team's 2022 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee and Dolphins Cancer Challenge Board of Directors member, among his off-the-field accolades.

SYMPTOMS OF UNDERWHELMING DRAFTS

Let's face it, the Dolphins were willing to trade Phillips because of the current situation in which they find themselves, which is staring at a rebuilding project while in the midst of a dreadful 2025 season.

And one of the biggest reasons the Dolphins find themselves in this spot and their previous rebuilding project didn't pan out was the failure to maximize their massive draft capital of 2020 and 2021 when they ended up with nine picks in the first two rounds those two years.

Phillips became the fifth of those nine players to leave without getting a second contract with the Dolphins, joining Noah Igbinoghene, Robert Hunt, Raekwon Davis and Jevon Holland.

Liam Eichenberg deserves an asterisk because the Dolphins re-signed him as a free agent this offseason, but did so on a one-year, low-money deal.

That leaves Tua Tagovailoa, Austin Jackson and Jaylen Waddle as the only three of those nine picks to sign long-term extensions with the Dolphins.

That's simply not even coming close to maximizing that draft capital.

Jackson and Phillips both were 18th overall selections, yet neither of them became an impactful player in the same vein as other 18th overall picks like Maurkice Pouncey, Ryan Kelly, Jaire Alexander, Jack Campbell and even rookie Grey Zabel for the Seahawks this year.

In fairness, Phillips' numbers match up well against the other edge defenders selected after him in the first round of that 2021 draft — Kwity Paye, Gregory Rousseau, Odafe Oweh and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. And that's even with Phillips' two major injuries.

There also wasn't a player selected after Phillips in that first round who would have been a clearly better pick. Running back Najee Harris, in fact, is the only first-round pick of 2021 taken after Phillips to be selected to the Pro Bowl.

The bottom line here is that Phillips was a solid pick for the Dolphins and played some good football in Miami, even if he came up short in terms of being a difference-maker.

But, given his contract status and injury history, it still made sense for the Dolphins to move on from him.