Miami Minicamp Confidential: OLB Jaelan Phillips locked in and ready to return to action

USA Today

20 hours ago

Miami Minicamp Confidential: OLB Jaelan Phillips locked in and ready to return to action
The Miami Dolphins concluded their mandatory minicamp Thursday and outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips got a chance to update South Florida media on a few topics on Wednesday.
Entering a second consecutive year coming off a season-ending injury, Phillips shared his progress in rehabbing from a 2024 ACL injury and discussed the difference from his 2023 Achilles season-ender.
'Oh, it's way easier. It's like night and day, honestly. The ACL, I was walking basically a week after surgery, and then was back to day-to-day life functioning after a couple of weeks.
'In terms of coming back to play, I feel like I tend to heal pretty well. I obviously take really good care of my body and have good genetics. I've been lucky with this process where I've been pretty much feeling the same for the last couple of months," Phillips said.
Phillips injured his ACL during a Week 4 game against the Tennessee Titans last year. The 6-foot-5, 263-pound linebacker remarkably started 2024 on time following his 2023 Achilles injury that he suffered against the New York Jets during Week 12 of that season. Phillips was well on his way to a career year in 2023, going into the Jets game with 5.5 sacks and adding another against them before exiting the game with injury.
In his first two years, Phillips had a Miami rookie record 8.5 sacks and followed up with seven during his second season in South Florida. Clearly pacing to exceed those numbers in 2023, a full season of Phillips in 2025 could mean a potential of double-digit sacks.
Of course, he will be part of a trio that together, could form an extremely potent pass rush. He joins 2024 first-round pick Chop Robinson and veteran Bradley Chubb, who is also looking to return to action from his own knee injury from Week 17 in 2023.
'Yeah, man, we've been talking about it since Chop got here, for real. But it'll be cool to actually get to do it. Also just another year under the belt for our defense under 'Weave,' getting the plays together. I think you'll see things open up a little more, so it will be exciting," Phillips said of that trio of pass rushers.
Phillips and Chubb were able to bond and push each other during their respective rehabilitations.
'I think we both played a big role for each other, just in the sense of being there for each other during these times. Obviously, he's someone who's dealt with several injuries in the past, but ACL specific questions I do ask him a lot because he's done three ACLs. I ask him about different things and he'll kind of give me feedback and tell me how I'm looking and stuff. Same thing, it's like some good reassurance that I'm in a good place," Phillips said.
Phillips is no stranger to the injury comeback trail, and has dealt with setbacks since college, but closed the narrative that comes with it.
"It's just like any other negative comments that you see on the internet, you just kind of have to ignore it. I can't feed into it. I know – for example, the knee. It's friendly fire, nothing I can do about it. How am I injury-prone if I get speared in the knee? Or even the Achilles, that's the first major injury I had in the league for real, other than the little oblique I had.
'You just hear the narrative and brush it off, do what you can do. No matter what you do, someone is going to have something to say about it. So at this point in my career, I feel like I do a pretty good job of being able to see that but not let it affect me too much," Phillips said.
At this moment, Phillips enters 2025 as a team leader and vital component of a defense that will need to rely on its front seven. This is also a season in which a culture shift has been the topic and Phillips chimed in with his thoughts.
'I think the biggest thing for me that I've noticed is that with our defense especially, I can't really speak for the offense all that much, but with our defense, the leaders are leaders because of merit and because of the respect they earn on the field. They're not leaders because of name or because of how much you make or anything like that.'
'So guys like Jordyn Brooks, guys like 'T. Dot' [Tyrel Dodson], guys like Bradley, obviously, Zach Sieler, these are the humblest dudes you know. Come in, first dudes in, last dudes out type of mentality. They earn your respect in that way, which I can appreciate," Phillips said.
Heading into his fifth season Phillips is all about progress and on a team full of speed on both sides of the ball, he used a pertinent reference while at the same time putting his peers on notice.
'No drag, so in F1, drag is the force that's resisting forward progress. So if you're dragging as a teammate, then you're being a bad teammate, dragging the team down, so no drag around here. All slipstream around here,' Phillips said.
Phillips and the Dolphins will finish minicamp and break until July when training camp will begin at Baptist Health Training Facility.
When asked about how he plans on spending that time off, Phillips mentioned he has a getaway planned along with some relaxation with family in California as well as hosting a kid's football camp. However, he seems locked into the program heading into the summer.
'Honestly, I did plenty of relaxing over the last seven months," Phillips said. "I vacationed, I went to Italy. I did all that stuff. So, for me, I'm still in go mode, for sure."