Eagles Strike Out On Jaelan Phillps Leaving Gaping Hole On Edge

Add a pass rusher to the Eagles’ list of offseason needs. The vacancy was created when they failed to get a deal done with Jaelan Phillips, who turned out to be just a three-month rental that cost Philly a third-round pick to bring him up from South Florida in November, after the Carolina Panthers opened the vault for him on Monday afternoon.

Legal tampering began at noon, and when there was no deal between Phillips and the Eagles, he was all but gone, because once the doors to the free-agent market open at that time, there is a long line of teams with deep pockets waiting on the other side.

The Panthers were that team, giving Phillips a four-year deal worth $120 million. That’s an annual salary of $30 million, and that was no doubt well above whatever was the Eagles’ walkaway number. It was a number that was probably close to $24. The Panthers swamped it and will now have the services of a player who helped turn the Eagles’ defense around in the second half of last season.

“Unbelievable worker, unbelievable leader, incredibly talented player who cares desperately about winning,” said Eagles general manager Roseman about Phillips before the NFL Scouting Combine.

Still, his presence couldn’t prevent the Eagles from losing to the underdog 49ers in the wildcard round of the playoffs.

After he was traded to the Eagles, Phillips called his landing in Philadelphia "literally the greatest thing that has happened to me in my whole life, probably." In the end, though, the lure of all that money Carolina gave him was too great to pass up.

Losing Jaelan Phillips Leaves Hole On The Edge

Phillips could be deemed a medical risk after missing part of seasons during his career with the Dolphins due to a ruptured Achilles in 2023 and a torn ACL in 2024. Roseman was asked about the risk of signing a player to such a big-money contract with that sort of history.

“Without talking about Jalen Phillips, in particular, when you're talking about any decision that you make, you're factoring character, factoring in medical, you're factoring in level of play, you're factoring in age, you're factoring in scheme fit,” the GM said. “And so, I think that that's part of the decision making you're doing on any player that you're signing and extending. So that wouldn't be any different in any case that we're talking about here.”

This loss leaves Roseman in need of somebody to add to the outside of his defense to join Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, and maybe Brandon Graham. That’s far from enough.

There is a chance Roseman could try to land Phillips’ teammate while he was in Miami, and that is Bradley Chubb. The Eagles are expected to go offense in the draft, with tight end and offensive line at the top of the list, but now an edge rusher could work his way into the conversation for a pick in the first two days.

Roseman tried a patchqork approach in free agency last year, adding free agentz Azeez Ojulari, JOsh Uche, and Ogbo Okoronkwo. Nonoe of them panned out. Nor did Za'Darius Smith who signed on after the season opener but retired weeks later.

Even with a rookie coming in, there is usually a learning curve associated with edge players when they enter the league, so how much that person would be able to help right away is open for debate.

For context, the Eagles' top rookie sackers are Derrick Burgess, who had six as a rookie third-round pick in 2001, and Mike Mamula, who collected 5.5 as the seventh overall pick in 1995.

Technically, Reggie White was a rookie with the Eagles in 1985 when he had 13.5 sacks, but the Minister of Defense was older when he came to Philly after spending two seasons with the Memphis Showboats in the USFL, where he collected 23.5 sacks in 34 games.