Music kept new Carolina Panthers star Jaelan Phillips' NFL dream alive. Find out how.
During an interview with ESPN, new Carolina Panthers star Jaelan Phillips spoke about how music kept his NFL dream alive.
Phillips medically retired from football in 2018 after his sophomore season at UCLA because of concussions and multiple surgeries to repair a serious left wrist injury suffered when he was hit by a car while riding a moped.
In 2020, Phillips returned to football and played for Miami, in part because he was attracted to their music production program.
"After retiring, I was happy with anything,'' Phillips said. "Like, if I would have gone in a late round or as an undrafted free agent, I was grateful to be back in the game. ... Without music, I definitely would have been in a different place."
After playing for the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles last season, Phillips signed a four-year, $120 million contract with the Panthers this offseason in free agency.
Phillips finished last season with five sacks, 29 solo tackles, seven tackles for loss and 14 QB hits with Miami and Philadelphia. The defender has 28 sacks in the NFL with the Dolphins and Eagles. His main job next season is to wreak havoc on opposing QBs
The Panthers made the playoffs last season for the first time since the 2017 campaign. It will be intriguing to see if Carolina can make the postseason again after giving Phillips a massive contract.
The Panthers, under defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, run a base 3-4 defense. Phillips isn't worried about adjusting his game to a new defensive scheme at this stage of his career.
"I've played a lot in 3-4s," Phillips said. "I definitely can say that I'm versatile in the sense that I can get down to the 3 (technique), I can play the edge. I can walk out in coverage. I can drop back to the inside backer if I need to. I've done a lot of things in a lot of different defenses.
"I think that's kind of one of the fortunate things that I've had different coordinators with different teams, different position coaches, stuff like that. So, I've had a lot of experience and been involved in a lot of different systems, so I think that I can definitely contribute in that sense of just being versatile and allowing the defense to be able to be multiple because you don't have to worry about my position."
Panthers Roundtable also offers a fan community and message board. We’d love to have you join us to talk all things Panthers. Click the “Join” button at the top of the page to join our community for free.