Jaelan Phillips Should Be The Eagles No. 1 Priority In Free Agency

PHILADELPHIA - With the Eagles’ coaching angst receding to a manageable level, it’s time to start putting the focus on the top issue in every NFL building, and that’s personnel.

Whether you've heard it from Bum Phillips, Barry Switzer or dozens of other coaches in and around the NFL, the idea that "It's not the X's and O's, it's the Jimmy's and Joe's” is a regular refrain around the league.

Talent trumping scheme is not a foreign concept to anyone paying attention.

You heard it late last season from Vic Fangio in Philadelphia.

“I like a lot of good players,” the well-regarded defensive coordinator said. “They make me look smart.”

You might have caught another iteration of the sentiment if you were paying attention in Cleveland when the Browns introduced Todd Monken as their new head coach on Tuesday.

When asked about potentially working with veteran DC Jim Schwartz, who is upset he was passed over with the Browns, Monken tried to deflect, saying it was "a little inappropriate for me to comment about that at this time."

When pressed, however, Monken went further.

“I didn't take this job because of Jim Schwartz,” the new coach said. “I have a lot of respect for Jim Schwartz, as I would hope he has for me. But I took it because of the players that are here, the ownership, [general manager] Andrew Berry, and the ability to build this roster from the ground up on the offensive side.”

Then came the money line ...

“When I was preparing for the Cleveland Browns, I wasn't trying to chip Jim Schwartz. I was chipping Myles Garrett," Monken said.

Circle back to the Eagles, and there is much internal discussion that will be going on leading up to the new league year on March 11.

Everything from the future of Lane Johnson and A.J. Brown will need to be clarified sooner rather than later.

In the more conventional realm of free agency, if you had to bring back one of the scheduled unrestricted players, the call should be for edge defender Jaelan Phillips.

From the moment Phillips arrived in Philadelphia via trade from Miami on Nov. 3 of last year for a 2026 third-round pick, the lengthy pass rusher helped elevate the play of the entire defense.

“Anytime you add a good player to your team on the field, it's going to help everybody,” Fangio told Eagles On SI when discussing Phillips. “ If your pass rush takes an uptick, that helps everybody. If your run defense takes an uptick, that helps everybody. … So it's a domino effect. I don't think it helps just one position. It helps everybody.”

The Domino Effect

Jan 11, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jaelan Phillips (50) looks on during warmups prior to an NFC Wild Card Round game against the San Francisco 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Phillips, a 2021 first-round pick out of UCLA, has played his best ball under Fangio in both Miami during the 2023 season and again when being reunited with the Eagles’ DC in Philly.

At 6-foot-5 and nearly 260 pounds, Phillips has the power to set the edge and the athleticism to get after the passer, finishing with 34 pressures down the stretch for the Eagles, the most on the team over that span. He also won’t turn 27 until May, the rare potential difference-maker entering his prime at a position the NFL deems worthy of paying.

With the NFL salary cap set to rise from $279.2 million in 2025 to a range of $301.2 million to $305.7 million next season, Spotrac.com’s early market value on Phillips is three years and $52 million or just over a $17M average annual value.

If the Eagles could get that number with their typical bookkeeping tricks added in, the goal should be to race to sign the contract.

My initial hunch is that Spotrac number is too low and tied to Phillips’ troubling injury history (ACL and Achilles), and the fact that those pressures only turned into one actual sack.

The smarter teams will see the age, upside, and expanding cap situation and push Phillips' next contract higher. The question from there is what would Howie Roseman’s walkaway number be?

One thing that also has to enter that equation for the Eagles’ GM is how you would have to replace Phillips, something that would require utilizing another significant asset or spending at the market rate for a lesser player.

All of that makes Phillips the Eagles' No. 1 priority in free agency.

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