Jaelan Phillips Explains Why He Left Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles lost Jaelan Phillips to the Carolina Panthers in free agency.

Nov 16, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jaelan Phillips (50) against the Detroit Lions at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Eagles lost a key piece of the defense early on after free agency opened up last week.

The National Football League legal tampering period opened up on March 9 and Jaelan Phillips agreed to terms on a four-year, $120 million deal shortly afterward, despite reports surfacing on March 8 saying "significant" progress had been made on a new deal between Philadelphia and the young pass rusher.

On Monday, Phillips opened up about why he selected the Panthers, and not the Eagles.

The Eagles avoided a massive contract

Dec 14, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jaelan Phillips (50) walks off the field after win against the Las Vegas Raiders at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

"I have respect for [the Eagles], and I don’t want to disclose what they were offering or anything like that, but they definitely did want me to come back," Phillips said. "That’s something I knew after the season that they would be making a push, but ultimately, the Panthers just came with a more attractive offer. That just shows the belief they have in me and the belief they have in their team that we’re going to invest in to pieces that are going to take this team to the next level. It was kind of a no-brainer to come to the Panthers."

Phillips played in eight games for the Eagles after being acquired ahead of the trade deadline in 2025. Phillips has endless potential, but $30 million per year would've been a bit of a stretch for Philadelphia. Arguably, the Eagles avoided a potentially difficult contract. Right now, Phillips' career high with sacks is 8 1/2 set back in 2021 as a rookie. He followed up with seven in 2022 and hasn't reached that total again yet. He has the upside to do so, but he played in just 12 games total across the 2023 and 2024 seasons. In 2025, he played in 17 games total and had five sacks.

Again, he's a great player and has massive upside, but Trey Hendrickson, got a smaller deal with the Baltimore Ravens than Phillips got with Carolina and he has 81 career sacks in nine seasons. Hendrickson had 13 1/2 sacks or more in four of the last six seasons. Phillips has big potential, but that contract was bigger than expected.