Texas Football: Bill Belichick Got Another Steal in Former Longhorn Adrian Phillips

Phillips is exactly the kind of heady player that thrives in the Patriots' system

Reports trickled out from the NFL world yesterday that the New England Patriots had signed former Texas Longhorn Adrian Phillips. 

Phillips is a former All Big 12 selection who played in 50 games with 28 starts during his time on the Forty Acres. He was always talented - as indicated by his all-state high school career at Garland High School - but it was during his time in Austin when he began to match that physicality with a sharp mental edge that only comes from countless hours of film study. 

It was that ability that turned him from an undrafted free agent into a Pro Bowler. 

Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley heaped praise on Phillips for his work ethic in the film room and ability to process things quickly.

"He's extremely intelligent," Bradley told Chargers.com in 2018. "He can play strong safety, free safety, dime and nickel for us, and we'd feel extremely comfortable if he was in any of those positions. So that intelligence (is impressive). He's got a football IQ that is, to say compare him to anybody, he's just one of the most elite guys in that area that I've ever been around."

"To me, football IQ is really understanding what the offense is doing and being able to react off it," Phillips told Chargers.com in 2018. "A lot of people can watch film and they can realize what the offense is doing. They can say, 'Oh, this (play) is coming this certain place, this certain run or this certain pass,' but they can't apply it to the field. They can't apply what they learned in the film room to the field.

"So, what the IQ is I think is just being able to practice what you study and understanding those concepts. Understanding how offenses are trying to attack you. This league is a copy-cat league. People try to attack our defenses in so many different ways and trying to find new avenues to get the upper edge on us, but when you have that high football IQ, you can see how they're trying to attack you. You understand those concepts and understand how they're disguised on different things. And then you go out and just make a play."

Now Phillips is reportedly headed to New England where Bill Belichick has created a dynasty with players possessing a high football IQ. 

It's the first thing he looks for in a player. That's why guys like Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi, Troy Brown, Wes Welker, Rodney Harrison, Deion Branch and of course Tom Brady have all excelled in his program over the years.  

Only 27, Phillips is still in his prime and the former Longhorn's best football may very well still be ahead of him in New England.