A new Carolina Panthers edge rusher has laid out his goal for the 2026 NFL season.
The Carolina Panthers continue training camp after their early report date, preparing for the upcoming 2026 season.
With Carolina fresh off a NFC South division title a year ago, the Panthers are hoping to build on that. In the offseason, they attempted to improve both sides of the ball by adding key players in free agency and during the draft. One player they targeted early was pass rusher Jaelan Phillips who signed a big deal to join the Panthers.
Phillips was the top edge rusher available in the free agent market and agreed to a four-year deal worth $120 million. The edge rusher is expected to play a major role on this defense but now that Nic Scourton is being lost for the season, the importance of Phillips increases.
Early in camp, he caught up with NFL Network reporter Cameron Wolfe to discuss his goals for the season. And in Phillips' words, he's ready to "go crazy."
"Just trying to come in and be a disruptive player," Phillips said. "Play my brand of football, I've always been a high effort guy, always been someone who is going to get after it down in and down out. So that's what I plan on doing here. I hoping to increase production and be a real turning piece to this defense."
"Next level for me is to get the production levels up. . . Taking everything up a notch really from the effort stand point to a production standpoint. I'm just trying to turn up and go crazy."
Phillips also mentioned how he would like to step up as a leader as well, helping bring the energy to the defense.
In his time in the NFL so far, Phillips' best season in terms of sack numbers was 8.5 back in 2021 when he was a rookie. Last season, he had just five as he split time between the Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins. A number like that would be disappointing in terms of what the Panthers gave him contract-wise to come here.
The Panthers are hoping that Phillips can really improve this pass rush and become a dominant player.
