Leaner, Wiser Phillips Ready to Attack Second NFL Season

Miami Dolphins 2021 first-round pick Jaelan Phillips learned a lot during his rookie season and he's ready to apply those lessons in his second year

Jaelan Phillips is coming off a 2021 season during which he set the Miami Dolphins rookie record with 8.5 sacks, but there's a lot more to be accomplished for the former University of Miami standout.

Not specifically in terms of how many more sacks he could record in his second season because setting those kind of expectations can be counterproductive.

It was one of the many lessons that Phillips learned as a rookie, lessons he hopes can propel him to becoming an even bigger contributor to the Dolphins defense in 2022 and beyond.

“Yeah, I think I've definitely toughened up on the mental standpoint of things and just learning about what the league is and how to manage my expectations," Phillips said Wednesday after a Phase 2 workout of the Dolphins offseason program. "It's crazy to think that basically a year ago (Thursday) was draft night and just the whirlwind of emotions, my emotions and just how this year went. It's pretty crazy. But (I'm) just looking to take everything from last year and just keep building on it.”

Among things that have changed for Phillips since the beginning of his rookie season has been working with a performance coach, Ben Newman, who taught him the power of positivity from within.

New look for Phillips

Since the end of last season, Phillips dropped five pounds, even though he looks considerably leaner than he did late last year.

“Five pounds literally," he said. "It's surprising like body composition can make a huge difference because obviously muscle weighs more than fat. So being able to trim fat significantly, although I may look 10, 15 pounds leaner, in reality I'm almost the same weight.

“Just working on body composition, just continuously trying to build lean muscle and then cut as much fat as possible. And so weight wise, I feel really good. I feel like I'm running around well, I feel like I'm strong as well. So just continuously trying to improve my body and fine-tune like some smaller muscles that you might not think about that are really good at stabilization and different lateral movements and different things like that. So just trying to prime my body for the season. No doubt.”

Phillips confirmed Wednesday he's still in the outside linebackers room, which certainly makes sense given his size and skill set.

After being the 18th overall pick in the 2021 draft, Phillips played every game for the Dolphins in 2021 and started five. He ended up playing 54 percent of the defensive snaps, a figure that ranked 12th on the team.

Phillips looking to play every down

And if Phillips has any statistical goal for 2022 — again, goal, not expectations — it's to be on the field more often.

“I'm really critical of myself and I have a lot of high aspirations and I want to do everything I can to help the team and so for me, not being able to come in every single down to help the team, that's something where I took it on myself where I'm gonna work on this and sacks were nice, but ultimately, it's more than just sacks," Phillips said. "It's more than just production. It's about how you fit in in the defense and what are you doing to contribute to the team as a whole. And so, yeah, just constantly trying to better myself and improve the things that I need to improve on.”

Statistically at least, Phillips improved considerably in the second half of his rookie season after a very quiet start.

Of his 8.5 sacks, 6.5 came in the final eight games. Same thing for his QB hits, with 10 of the 16 coming in those final eight games.

It certainly didn't help that Phillips was sidelined during training camp by a minor leg injury. It was about halfway through the season that Phillips started working with Newman, at the recommendation of Dolphins director of player engagement Kaleb Thornhill.

Beyond working with Newman, Phillips has been providing himself extra motivation by writing the letters JWM on his wrist tape.

They stand for Just Watch Me.

“I think for me, it's just a mindset thing," Phillips said. "I think I'm just kind of taking pride in the fact that it's almost like that chip on my shoulder, that Just Watch Me thing. It's like people said I couldn't play early downs. All right, just watch me. So it's just a mentality, having that dog mentality, having that fight to where every single snap, it's me against him and who's gonna win? It’s damn sure not gonna be him.

“Yeah, I mean, I still talk to Ben almost every day. He texts me positive messages every morning and just positive affirmations and things like that. And then I'm not setting any expectations for next year. Just know I'm working my ass off and really trying to be a trusted player and a trusted teammate and do everything I can for this organization.

“Coming out of The U and how everything happened there like I was kind of riding on this high and when I came into camp and started getting hit with some adversity, just had to kind of reposition myself and refocus my energy and my attention. So ultimately ended up I'm really grateful for the fact that that happened, because in the span of the season, I felt myself growing as a person. And then back then, yeah, so JWN — just watch me — and that just basically evokes an emotional response for me just kind of having a chip on my shoulder and just reminding myself that I still have everything to prove to myself and to haters.”