Eagles Make Big Splash, Acquire Edge Rusher Jaelan Phillips From Dolphins
Nov 13, 2022; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips (15) takes the field prior to the game against the Cleveland Browns at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
Coming off a Super Bowl victory in 2024, the Philadelphia Eagles were set up to continue their dominance in 2025 and beyond. They had an explosive offense led by Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, with weapons all around him. From Saquon Barkley to A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert, the Eagles had weapons everywhere, and on top of that, a dominant offensive line.
On the other side of the ball, they were as deep as any other team in the league on defense. At all three levels, they were loaded with talent, whether young studs or experienced veterans; nobody could stop them.
Following last season, they were forced to let some players walk, and because of that, the team just hasn’t felt as great as it could be. While they’re 6-2 with the best record in the NFC, it felt like a repeat of the dreaded 2023 season, where the team fell apart in the second half of the year.
Heading into the 2025 trade deadline, moves needed to be made to get this team the players it needed to help win another Super Bowl.
Well, with just one day until the NFL trade deadline, Howie Roseman and the Eagles front office are at it again, as they made a huge move trading with the Miami Dolphins for one of the top players available at this year’s deadline: edge rusher Jaelan Phillips. In exchange for Phillips, the Eagles will send their own 2026 third-round pick to Miami.
Phillips, 26, stands at a towering 6’5 and 263 lbs. A California native, he spent his first two years of school at UCLA before transferring to Miami for his final two. In his final year of school, he was named a First-team All-American, and that helped propel him into the first round of the NFL draft, where the Dolphins selected him with the 21st pick in the 2021 NFL draft.
Right away, Phillips made quite the impact for Miami as in his first two seasons in South Beach, he recorded 15.5 sacks, 103 combined tackles, 17 TFL’s and recovered three fumbles. He looked like a bright young star for the Dolphins and continued that trend through the first half of the 2023 season, recording 6.5 more sacks and 43 tackles, but things took a turn for the worse.
He suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in November of 2023, ending his fantastic start to his third season. After rehabbing that whole offseason, Phillips powered back and was able to get back on the field for the Dolphins’ first game of 2024, but just four weeks in that season, he’d suffer another season-ending injury, this time an ACL tear, that caused him to miss another year of action.
Devastating injuries just derailing an incredibly talented young player, and because of it, the Dolphins felt it was best to just pick up Phillips’ fifth-year option and either trade him or brace for him leaving in free agency and hope to get a good compensatory pick for him.
The Eagles came calling and decided that they were willing to spend big for Phillips. While trading a third-round pick for Phillips, a player who is an outright free agent this March, seems excessive and an all-in move, the Eagles actually have a fantastic outcome, no matter how Phillips plays.
If Phillips stays healthy and plays like he has in the past, the Eagles get a huge boost to their struggling pass rush that can now heavily attack offenses come playoff time. After the season, the Eagles can either re-sign him and continue to get great play or let him walk and receive a compensatory pick in rounds 3-6, and if he plays well enough, that should land him in the 3-4 round range.
Or the other scenario, he plays badly or gets hurt, the Eagles let him walk in free agency and still could get a pick if he gets paid enough, or they resign him for cheap and hope to see improvements. Either way, this is almost a win-win for the Eagles as they get a talented young player for the rest of the season, and could benefit if he can get a contract elsewhere.
They even save in the cap situation, as well as the Eagles are only paying $500k of the money Jaelan Phillips is owed this year, and the Dolphins are taking on the other $6.04 million. That was due to them getting such a high draft pick.
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio coached Phillips in 2023 when he was off to his best start to a season, so if anyone can get Phillips going, it would be Fangio. He gives a huge bump to an Eagles pass rush that is desperate for a top superstar-level play, and may just get one.
While he’ll take the week to practice with the team, we’ll likely see Phillips in Midnight Green as early as next Monday night when the Eagles travel to Green Bay to take on the Packers.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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