Evaluating the Proposed Phillips Trade with the Comp Pick Angle

The Miami Dolphins edge rusher is a popular name in trade speculation ahead of the deadline Tuesday.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) passes under pressure from Miami Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips (15) during the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Among all the speculation involving the Miami Dolphins and what they might do before the NFL trade deadline late Tuesday afternoon, the most popular idea seems to involve edge rusher Jaelan Phillips being sent to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The connection was suggested by SI national writer Albert Breer, Diana Russini of The Athletic and Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network, with the asking price believed to be a Day 2 pick in the draft, meaning at least a third-round pick.

Breer added the idea that the Eagles want the Dolphins to pick up a portion of the prorated salary for Phillips on his fifth-year option. Phillips is making $13.3 million on his fifth-year option, meaning he's got $6.3 million left for the rest of the season.

The connection between Phillips and the Eagles, who are looking for pass-rushing help, is pretty clear with Vic Fangio having served as the Dolphins' defensive coordinator in 2023 before leaving to take the same job with Philadelphia.

The Dolphins would be willing to move Phillips for obvious reasons, namely that he's scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason and the organization probably isn't eager to give him a long-term contract in light of the current state of affairs in Miami, not to mention his lengthy injury history.

Phillips has had an interesting season in his return from his torn ACL, on the one hand providing pretty consistent pressure on the quarterback but on the other too often failing to bring down the quarterback — the two glaring examples being the late play against Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers and the near-sack of Lamar Jackson that turned into a long gain on the final play of the first quarter against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night.

It was Phillips' injury history that likely made the Dolphins decide to have him play on his fifth-year option in 2025, and the team looking at a likely rebuild in light of this disaster of a season has made Phillips a trade candidate, if not a trade certainly — whether it goes to the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions or any other team.

Getting a third-round pick for Phillips would be nice work by the Dolphins, and we'd strongly recommend them making that deal if they can do it, even if it requires paying part of Phillips' remaining salary — of course, it's not our money, but it would be good business regardless.

THE COMPENSATORY PICK ANGLE

Of course, if the Dolphins hang on to Phillips for the remainder of the season and then lose him in free agency, they could be in line for a compensatory pick, but there are factors to consider.

The first is that the compensatory picks start in the third round, so the Dolphins wouldn't do better than that trade return.

And that's only if Phillips winds up being ranked among the top compensatory free agents based on the NFL's complicated formula. But that formula starts with the highest annual average, and it's fair to wonder exactly how much Phillips will get on the open market.

But here's the most important point: Getting compensatory picks only applies to those teams that lose more compensatory free agents than they sign.

And it's all about the total of free agents and not the value of the contracts because, for example, the Dolphins are not projected by OverTheCap.com to get any compensatory picks in 2026 because they signed four and lost four, and it doesn't matter that Jevon Holland got by far the highest contract of the eight free agents involved.

So, the Dolphins would first need to have a net loss of free agents before the issue of how high a draft pick Phillips would bring comes into play.

With a trade, that pick becomes certain and, well, a pick in hand is better than ... you know what we're getting at.

The bottom line is, unless the Dolphins have Phillips clearly in their plans for 2026 and beyond, then moving him if they can get a third-round pick should be a no-brainer. And we'd suggest a fourth-round selection also should be something to consider.

Because of Phillips' age and performance, the Dolphins aren't likely to get that kind of offer for either of their other two edge defenders — Matthew Judon and Bradley Chubb.