As Miami Dolphins look to build on 2022, Jaelan Phillips aims to hit the right notes

There’s a precision that goes into striking the right chord, an exactness that makes a melody sing, a particularity that can turn the right notes placed perfectly together into a symphony.

The same can be said about the way Miami Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips approaches each play on the football field.

After all, music and football are Phillips’ two passions. Music is the career path he considered pursuing when his football career nearly ended halfway through his college career. He has the background, too. He plays the piano and guitar. His grandfather was a symphony composer and his parents are both instrumentalists. He has taught himself how to produce and engineer music, too, something he still focuses on during his downtime.

“It’s just something that’s very cathartic,” Phillips said.

What’s also cathartic for Phillips: The sound of an opposing quarterback dropping to the ground after a successful pass rush off the edge, the rush of flying past offensive lineman to get to the opposing backfield, the joy of living out a football dream that he’s had since he was 7 years old yet almost never came to fruition.

And that brings Phillips to the present: Entering Year 3 in the NFL after the Dolphins selected him 18th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft out of the University of Miami.

He will be a core player in first-year Miami defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s defensive scheme.

And, if they hit the right notes, the Dolphins will have a chance to build on last season’s playoff berth in Mike McDaniel’s first season as head coach.

“We’re all definitely 100 percent committed,” Phillips, 24, said. “Knowing the talent and the type of guys on this team, we know we have a chance to go really deep [in the playoffs]. We’re trying to bring a Super Bowl to Miami, so we’re doing everything we can to work on that process.”

‘A burning desire to always be better’

Earlier in training camp, McDaniel was asked what aspect of Phillips’ game would be the most challenging to defend if he was on another team.

His answer?

“Blocking him,” McDaniel deadpanned.

“That’s a cool player to kind of highlight,” McDaniel continued, “just because Jaelan is a talented guy that has worked and worked and worked, and he’s starting to see the fruits of his work really bear fruition. He’s always been an impactful player and he has a special between whistle-to-whistle motor that, with his athleticism, he’s been able to make some plays on NFL game days and really be a big part of this team. I think he has taken a step this year in being what he wants to be thus far. It is not a complete journey, but, at this point, I think he feels a lot more in control of his own game and able to make plays in a multitude of ways with still having that motor and that relentless approach to give offenses fits in the fourth quarter.”

Phillips had a strong 2022 season, leading the Dolphins with seven sacks and 25 quarterback hits to go along with 61 tackles and a pair of defended passes in 17 games (15 starts).

His confidence grew with each passing game, which Phillips said “slowed the game down for me.”

“I was able to diagnose things a little better. That makes you play faster. This year, I’ve just been trying to improve on my technique and conditioning and trying to build on everything that I’ve worked on so far.”

And his name is starting to be known around the league.

Phillips, a menacing blend of size and speed at 6-5 and 266 pounds, is a prime candidate to be one of the breakout edge rushers in the league this season.

Two-time Super Bowl champion Von Miller said on an episode of the “Pardon My Take” podcast earlier this month that “it’s just a matter of time before he blows up. He has all the tools, he has a great get-off, he’s long, he’s super strong and he’s in the right scheme.”

The New York Post included him on one of the paper’s back pages recently as part of a photo illustration of the top pass rushers the New York Jets will have to face in the AFC East this season — the Patriots’ Matthew Judon and the Bills’ Miller were the others.

ESPN analyst Louis Riddick identified Phillips as his player to watch on the Dolphins.

“Jaelan Phillips is not yet a household name despite the fact that he has one of the highest pass rush win rates in the NFL and despite the fact that he is a first-rounder,” Riddick said. “This is a year that I think that [Phillips], who is one of the best athletes in the NFL, [breaks out]. He is the perfect, perfect prototype 3-4 outside [linebacker]. This has to be the year he bursts onto the scene and becomes a superstar. Because there is no reason for him not to. There’s none. Because he’s got power. He’s got speed. ... But he’s a guy who still people go, ‘Jaelan Phillips?’”

But Phillips’ focus isn’t necessarily on becoming the household name. His job is to help the Dolphins win football games, to make the playoffs, to ultimately get to a Super Bowl.

“To me, it doesn’t even sound real to think of myself being in a position like that. I’m just Jaelan Phillips. I’m just me,” Phillips said. “To even have the amount of popularity or fans or whatever that I have now is absolutely surreal. Obviously, that’s not the goal. I’m not chasing stardom and fandom and stuff like that. I have a long, long way to go to be on that level of consistency and greatness, but I think I’m trying to do it. That’s what I do day in and day out is try to get to that point.”

His humility only adds to the intrigue in his development. Phillips dominated during joint practices with the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans this preseason and has emerged as a building block for the Dolphins to build around their defense.

And there’s still more skill to tap into.

“He has a burning desire to always be better, no matter how he’s progressing or anything,” Dolphins outside linebackers coach Ryan Slowik said. “He always wants to improve and get better and be the best version of him he can. It’s really neat to see him continue to take those strides.”

Phillips’ main goal for this year, he said, is “turning those pressures into sacks.” He’s not chasing individual numbers, per se, and he understands that individual statistics don’t necessarily paint the whole picture, but Phillips is also cognizant that the defense will be stronger if he finds ways to finish plays.

“This game is really a game of inches,” Phillips said, “and I think a lot of my pressures last year, if I had just been a little bit better with my hips, with my hands, with my feet, I could have turned those into sacks. So that’s something I’m steadily trying to improve on and trying to be a technician and really master the art of pass rushing.”

A long, challenging journey

Getting to this point, however, almost wasn’t meant to be for Phillips.

The top-ranked high school player in the Class of 2017 according to the 247Sports composite rankings out of Redlands (California) East Valley High, Phillips began his college career at UCLA where he spent two seasons before opting to medically retire after the 2018 season following a slew of injuries, including a pair of ankle injuries, multiple concussions and a broken left wrist after being hit by a car while riding his moped.

“There were a lot of extenuating circumstances that made me not necessarily fall out of love, but question my love for it,” Phillips said.

Phillips then spent a year at Los Angeles City College, where he began studying music production.

But the lingering desire to play football remained.

“After I had some time to really contemplate everything, I realized that part of my purpose in life was to come back and play football so I can build myself up to have an impact.”

So in 2019, he transferred to the University of Miami, where he enrolled in the Frost School of Music. He sat out the 2019 football season due to NCAA transfer rules.

In 10 games with the Hurricanes during the pandemic-impacted 2020 season, his lone season playing at UM, Phillips earned All-America honors after leading UM with 15.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks to go along with 45 total tackles, five quarterback hurries, three pass breakups and one interception.

It was enough for the Dolphins to select him in the first round, enough to get him to the next step of his career, enough to put him in a position to live out his dream.

The notes of Jaelen Phillips’ still-working symphony continue.

“It feels amazing,” Phillips said. “I don’t really sit back and reflect so much. I really try to stay present and keep my eyes forward, but it definitely feels great to be in the position that I’m in. I’m just continuously trying to get better. I’m trying to make an impact.”