Jaelan Phillips signed a four-year, $120 million contract with the Carolina Panthers.
After playing for the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles last season, Jaelan Phillips signed a four-year, $120 million contract with the Carolina Panthers this offseason in free agency.
Many NFL pundits believe the Panthers overpaid to get Phillips, who has never made a Pro Bowl.
Alex Kay of Bleacher Report took it even further, writing that Phillips should have stayed with the Eagles instead of joining the Panthers.
"It's understandable why the Eagles elected not to match a $30 million per year contract for a player whose production thus far hasn't correlated to that type of money, but Phillips could have been special for the club and taken a massive leap in Year 2," Kay wrote.
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, 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."
The Panthers made the playoffs last season for the first time since the 2017 campaign. It will be interesting to see if Carolina can make the postseason again after giving Phillips a massive contract.
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