Why Jaelan Phillips' injury history has prepared him for a critical 2025 season
After a solid, two-year start to his NFL career, the Miami Dolphins edge rusher suffered a ruptured Achilles that prematurely ended his 2023 season in Week 12. Then, after an arduous rehab, Phillips returned at the start of 2024 — only to play four games before safety Jordan Poyer flew into his leg against the Buffalo Bills, tearing his ACL.
Most people would have contemplated retirement, succumbing to the sadness of back-to-back major injuries. Phillips, however, isn't most people.
The biggest hurdle was 'finding the balance of obviously being locked in, staying on top of the recovery but also giving myself a little bit of grace and a little bit of break,' Phillips said Wednesday. 'Obviously I went through a lot these last couple of years so I felt like I needed to take a little bit of time to kind of regather myself and then it allowed me to come back with a lot more clarity and focus and motivation.'
With both the ACL and Achilles healed, Phillips will look to complete his first full season since 2022. The timing, however, cannot be better as 2025 will be a contract year for the five-year veteran. And as much as this could be considered 'put up or shut up' time, Phillips' only worry is what happens between the two lines, a point of praise for coach Mike McDaniel.
'If you can't control injuries, you have to be disciplined enough not to think about it and think about your technique and fundamentals,' McDaniel said Wednesday. 'We have the appropriate person for that challenge in Jaelan Phillips.'
Added Phillips: 'I'm definitely just trying to stay focused. That's all you can do — stay present, stay focused. Because obviously, it's a big year and so it's not like I'm going to ignore that fact but at the same time, I can't do anything about six or seven months from now.'
Adversity, however, is nothing new to Phillips. In late 2018, the edge rusher medically retired from the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins, citing a plethora of concussions and other injuries. Phillips subsequently transferred to the University of Miami where, following a year off, he returned to the football field in 2020.
'I think I went through a lot and experienced a lot in my time at UCLA and transitioning over to Miami,' Phillips said in Jan. 2022. 'So I think that's really taught me a lot about how I want to carry myself and what impact I want to have on this world. So for me, just understanding that it's way bigger than myself and it's bigger than any on-the-field or off-the-field accomplishment I can do.'
The Achilles injury seemed to provide similar clarity as 'it helped me recenter myself as a person.'
'It's just another good reminder of even when you think you've overcome adversity, something's always going to come,' Phillips said, explaining that the rehab gave him the chance to develop 'relationships' that he usually wouldn't be able to due to the intensity of the NFL schedule. 'It's just very humbling, very sobering.'
Such a mindset earned him praise from fellow edge rusher Bradley Chubb who rehabbed with Phillips as the former recovered from a devastating knee injury.
'He's a warrior,' edge rusher said. 'I like to surround myself with like-minded people and I feel like I'm a warrior in terms of how I handle adversity and he's the same way.He puts his head down and he might have a bad day or two but it never affected how he approach the work, how he approached the task.'
A healthy Phillips could give the Dolphins one of the most elite defensive fronts in football. The trio of edge rushers — Phillips, Chubb and Chop Robinson — combined with defensive tackles Zach Sieler and Kenneth Grant on the inside would be a nightmare for opposing offensive coordinators nightmares in 2025, something that certainly has him and coaches alike smiling.
'It would be exciting,' Phillips said. 'Chop has been having a hell of an OTAs. His improvement from last year to this year is so noticeable. It's insane, especially if you know the nitty gritty of it. I'm really proud of Chop and really excited to see how he's going to keep progressing. Obviously Bradley looks great. I feel really good so that's going to be fun.'
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