Jaelan Phillips signed a four-year, $120 million contract with the Carolina Panthers.
The Carolina Panthers made a big defensive splash in free agency this offseason, signing Jaelan Phillips to a four-year, $120 million contract.
Phillips played for the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles last season. The Eagles acquired the 26-year-old from the Dolphins in November. Phillips finished last season with five sacks, 29 solo tackles, seven tackles for loss and 14 QB hits with Miami and Philadelphia.
During an interview with Good Morning Football, Phillips spoke about why he signed with the Panthers, who lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round of the 2026 playoffs.
Phillips has never made a Pro Bowl, but he's considered one of the NFL's top young edge rushers.
"I feel like I'm a very fundamentally sound player, with the run and being back in coverage when I'm dropping, whether I'm rushing the quarterback," said Phillips. "So, I try to be a technician. I try to be very fundamentally sound when it comes to doing my job for the team, so I feel like that's what I bring."
Phillips has 28 sacks in the NFL with the Dolphins and Eagles. His main job next season is to wreak havoc on opposing QBs.
"The one thing I know about myself is I'm going to get after the quarterback," Phillips said. "I'm going to affect him. I'm going to get my hand in his face. I'm going to take the tackle back into him.
"I think for me, I'm excited about expanding my game and really getting that finishing aspect and turning a lot of the disruption into production."
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.
"I've played a lot in 3-4s," said Phillips. "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."
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