‘Oh my God, this guy is going to wreak havoc in the NFL:’ Dolphins’ Phillips is flourishing

When NBC lead NFL analyst Cris Collinsworth sat down to watch tape of former Miami Hurricanes star Jaelan Phillips before the NFL Draft, he wasn’t just impressed. He was bowled over.

“By the time you got to the second half of his last season, you went: ‘Oh my God, this guy is going to wreak havoc in the NFL,’” Collinsworth said. “He plays with violence, he has multiple moves, he has spin moves... He’s one of the best athletes…. I’m going to be stunned if this guy does not end up not just a good player, [but] an NFL star. I thought he was the best defensive player in this draft.”

On Sunday, Phillips delivered visual evidence that Collinsworth’s assessment might end up being validated.

Phillips’ three-sack eruption against Carolina was just one game, but it continued a pattern of growth for the 18th overall pick.

“He had a game for the ages,” NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger said. “He was rushing from all over the field. He’s getting chipped, he’s getting doubled” and still got to the quarterback. “His spin... was almost sack No. 4.”

Phillips opened his press availability on Monday by crediting teammates for helping set up those three sacks.

“Without them, it wouldn’t have been possible,” he said. “The first sack, Duke Riley and Christian Wilkins flushed Cam Newton out. The next sack, Zach Sieler flushed P.J. Walker out and then the next one, ‘Gink’ [Andrew Van Ginkel] helped flush him forward in the pocket. Give a lot of credit to the DBs for giving us time to get to the quarterback and for the other D-linemen for getting pressures to make it happen.”

Beyond the three sacks, Phillips had seven quarterback pressures in 24 pass rushing chances on Sunday.

For the season, he’s now tied for 21st in the league with 6.5 sacks, second among rookies behind Dallas linebacker Micah Parsons’ nine sacks. He’s 32nd among all NFL edge players in pressures, with 31, per Pro Football Focus.

“I’ve trying to get 1 percent better every day... working on my hands, technique and different things through this whole year,” Phillips said. “I think now it’s just starting to pay off, just the work we’ve been putting in consistently all year.”

PFF ranks him fifth worst among 110 edge players as a run defender, so growth is needed there.

The Dolphins — who moved him from defensive end (his primary position at UM) to linebacker — have had him drop into pass coverage only 36 times all season; both of the passes thrown in his coverage area have been caught, for 16 yards.

But even with his sack total now at an impressive number for a rookie, “I’m not satisfied at all. I know I have so much more in me. Even [Sunday], I could have had more. This league is very process oriented so you can’t step outside of your boundaries and worry about weeks ahead and worry about numbers and worry about how everybody else is doing in the league.

“You’ve just got to focus on yourself. We say cut your own grass. Don’t worry about your neighbor’s yard. I know this is just the beginning.”

Phillips — who has five tackles for loss in addition to the 6.5 sacks — has received guidance and encouragement from three people outside the building: Todd Stroud, his former defensive line coach at UM; Hurricanes strength and conditioning coach David Feeley; and Ben Newman, who has coached mental conditioning at Alabama.

“Coach Stroud, coach Feeley, I literally text them every single week before every single game,” Phillips said. “Ben Newman is a guy who I’ve been talking to recently. He’s kind of like a coach in terms of building confidence and things like that. I think I have a great group around me that have been really encouraging me.”

Phillips also cited Dolphins director of player engagement Kaleb Thornhill as “a guy who I’m extremely close to. He’s been great and encouraging me, just reminding me to stay process-oriented.”

Among the rookie edge players selected in the first round, Phillips -- who has appeared in 12 games and started four - now is No. 1 in sacks, ahead of the five edge players selected after him: the Colts’ Kwity Paye (three sacks in 10 starts), New Orleans’ Peyton Turner (one sack; just five game appearances), former UM star Greg Rousseau (three sacks in 11 starts for Buffalo), Baltimore’s Odafe Oweh (five sacks in 11 games and one start) and Tampa Bay’s Joe Tryon, who has three sacks in 11 games and three starts.

Parsons, selected 12th overall by Dallas, is playing some defensive end and some linebacker, some on the edge and some inside.

Phillips is “getting better every week,” coach Brian Flores said. “He is in here early. He stays late. He does a good job meeting, walk-through, practice, plays hard and is selfless in a lot of ways.”

Outside linebackers coach Rob Leonard is impressed by “the suddenness” of his pass rush moves “and how it balances with his speed. He’s hard to prepare for from that standpoint, in terms of the way the good Lord made him. Speed and power.”

There was universal praise for Phillips among draft analysts in April, with ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. noting “he’s the best natural pass rusher in this draft with his length, explosiveness, his anticipation of the snap. When he gets around that edge he has the bend. He’d be a much higher pick if it wasn’t for the durability concern” after multiple concussions at UCLA.

Sunday offered the clearest sign yet of the possibilities, and evidence that the player billed as the most skilled pass rusher in the draft could potentially fulfill all of those expectations.

Here’s my Monday piece with news from Brian Flores’ news conference.

Here’s my Monday update on the University of Miami athletic director search.