Jaelan Phillips was the number one prospect in the recruiting class of 2017. He committed to UCLA but after an underwhelming first two year he briefly retired from football, and came back in 2020 with Miami. In 2020 he looked like a different beast with amazing technique to go with what was already an insane athletic profile, showing why he was such a highly touted prospect. This guy is my EDGE1 and although others don’t think there’s a true top tier edge rusher in this class Phillips can be the guy.

Strengths: 

  • Great Strength and Length

Jaelan Phillips is 6’5 266 lbs with extremely long arms and great functional strength. His strength allows him to effectively impede lineman with his punches and it prevents him from getting pushed around when moved on the interior. His length often allows him to get his hands on the offensive lineman first, and allows him to pull off the long arm move.

  • Great Speed and Bend for His Size

Looking at an edge rusher’s ability to turn the corner has proved to be one of the best indicators of how good an edge player is at the next level and Phillips certainly has that ability. He also has great speed to get after players in pursuit, and he has a hot motor which allows him to finish these types of plays.

  • Great Hand Usage

Phillips has heavy hands that can move offensive lineman, and his placement of them are very good as well, he attacks linemen’s weaknesses and is usually the first to land a punch as well.

  • Variety of Pass Rush Counters

Jaelan Phillips has by far the biggest toolbag of the top pass rushers in this year’s draft class. He has a great cross chop, swim move, and his best move of all is his inside move which he sets up so well and his technique with his footwork and hand placement on this move is just perfect.

  • Shoots Into the Backfield to Stop Run

Jaelan Phillips is a great run defender which can often be a problem with top edge rushers coming into the draft. He quickly identifies when the offense is trying to set up a running play and he has great quickness to get into the backfield, which allows him to rack up many TFLs.

  • Amazing First Step

Jaelan Phillips reacts so incredibly fast off of the snap and right after the ball is snapped he gets downfield quick and gains a lot of speed which he does a good job converting to power and setting up an inside move off of that.

  • Scheme Independent

Jaelan Phillips is going to be able to play 4-3 defensive end or 3-4 outside linebacker in the NFL which is a valuable skill to have because it means that Phillips is pretty much a plug and play guy and teams won’t worry about him being a bad scheme fit if they switch defensive coordinators.

Weaknesses: 

  • Pad Level Too High At Times

Jaelan Phillips will sometimes get his pad level up a bit high which can be an issue that allows offensive lineman to gain leverage on him, but it’s not something that happens too often to the point where it’s a major issue and a bit of good coaching should get it out of him.

  • Medical History/UCLA Retirement

Jaelan Phillips does have some concerns with being able to stay on the field for a full year with his concussion history. He also had a brief retirement after two down years from UCLA that teams may want to check out. Other than these two issues which I wouldn’t even consider real on field concerns, it’s tough to find something to knock Phillips for which is a very good sign.

Player Comp: I see that Jaelan Phillips is listed at 6’5 266 lbs in most places, and funny enough that’s the exact same measurement that was taken for Chandler Jones when he was coming into the draft out of Syracuse. Both guys are extremely athletic with great size and length, combined with amazing bend and speed to run in pursuit. Both guys know how to get into the backfield to stop the run and also use their hands incredibly well. Jones has a variety of moves that he uses and with how many Phillips already has in his arsenal it’s hard for me to believe that he won’t develop a Jones-esque bag of tricks. Jones also has experience playing both 4-3 DE and 3-4 OLB in his career and Phillips looks like he should be able to do both as well. This is a player comparison that I absolutely love. 

Final Thoughts: Most people are split between having Phillips, Kwity Paye, and even sometimes Greg Rousseau as their top edge rushers in this year’s draft class, but I certainly have Phillips at the top guy. What many people don’t have however, is a singular edge rusher in the top ten of their draft board and I think I’m going to end up having Jaelan Phillips as a Top 10 and near Top 5 player. On the field there are very few weaknesses and nothing that he can’t quickly fix as a pro. He has insane athletic upside, as well as great technique already, so I’m not sure why many people don’t have him higher. If he stays healthy I think he could definitely be a Top 10 and maybe even Top 5 pass rusher at some point in his career. Since he’s so scheme independent there isn’t really a specific team that would use him better than other teams would, but Atlanta has a massive need at the edge position and if teams come calling to trade to draft a QB, I’d definitely trade down and consider taking Phillips.