Philly Feels Like Home For Eagles Difference-Maker, Hopes To Stick Around

PHILADELPHIA – Jaelan Phillips was in the playoffs once. It lasted all of one game. He was with the Dolphins when they went to Buffalo with backup quarterback Skylar Thompson and lost, 34-31, during the 2022 season.

Three years later, Phillips is back, but with the Eagles now, who are in the playoffs for the eighth time in the last nine years and will host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Phillips arrived at the trade deadline in early November, and was quickly accepted by his teammates, the coaches, and fans. “I’ve been here two months, but I feel I’ve been here all year,” he said earlier in the week.

How long he will remain here is the question. His contract expires at the end of the season, which has an undetermined shelf life with the postseason here. Phillips is engaged to be married and has a child on the way in the spring, so of course, he’s thinking of his future. Will it be with the Eagles?

“We (he and his fiancé) have conversations just because we have to plan logistics,” he said. “We have a baby on the way and we’re trying to figure out our living situation, things, like that, but ultimately, we have to take it one week at a time.

“I don’t know what the future holds. I would love to stay here. I really, truly feel at home here, but ultimately, we just have to play it by ear and day by day. I’m excited for the future, though. Whatever it is, once I know it, it will be the right thing for me.”

Asked if he or his agent have talked to general manager Howie Roseman, he said, “We’ve just been focused on these games and focused on taking a leap all week.”

Phillips has helped the Eagles’ defense take a big leap since his arrival, and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has noticed.

Jaelan Phillips A Difference-Maker

“Anytime you add a good rusher like Jaelan, I mean edge rushers, whether they’re getting the production on their own or they’re making those tackles play wider to honor them, to help inside, it helps the whole defense,” he said. “And I think you can look at them statistically since they’ve had him and seen statistically what it’s done, and you see the same thing on tape.”

The points per game allowed by the defense have dropped, and the Eagles’ sack totals have gone up from earlier in the year. Not because Phillips is the second coming of Browns pass rusher Myles Garrett, but his presence has opened opportunities for others all along the defensive front.

“He's given us a jumpstart in our pass rush,” said defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. “…he’s applied a lot of pressure and allowed others to get some sacks. He's given us some strong play on the edge, which will be important in this game. He's brought a level of enthusiasm and happiness to be here that I think has been contagious.”

Phillips may be a relative neophyte to the one-and-done nature of the postseason, but he has played in big games. He said that the one playoff game he lost with the Dolphins felt less like a playoff game than the game the Dolphins played in Buffalo during the regular season two weeks earlier, which was another close defeat. He added that the game the Eagles played in Buffalo in Week 17 had that playoff feel.

“That felt like a playoff environment,” he said of the Eagles' 13-12 win two weeks ago. “I haven’t had a ton of experience in the playoffs, but I’ve kind of had a glimpse about what it might feel like.”

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