As expected, the Panthers have made a big splash early with respect to a pass rush addition. Jaelan Phillips is heading to Carolina.
Team and player have agreed to terms, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. This will be a four-year, $120MM pact, he adds. Phillips has secured $80MM in guarantees on his second NFL contract.
Despite Phillips’ extensive injury history, the Panthers are betting big. Suffering Achilles and ACL tears in Miami, Phillips bounced back with a solid 2025 season split between the Dolphins and Eagles. Philadelphia could land a third-round compensatory pick, depending on its FA activity this year, thanks to this monster accord. The Eagles were believed to be closing in on a deal to retain Phillips, but they will stand down and let the 2025 trade pickup head to Charlotte.
Carolina missed on Milton Williams last year, being deep in talks before New England’s big offer won out for the impact free agent. The Panthers also lost Brian Burns in 2024, trading the Pro Bowl EDGE to wrap a lengthy saga. Although the Panthers drafted two edge rushers in 2025 (Nic Scourton, Princely Umanmielen), they will give Ejiro Evero a new lead sack artist.
PFR’s No. 3 overall free agent, Phillips only registered five sacks between his Dolphins and Eagles games last season. But he ranked 12th in pressures and submitted a strong (18.8% pressure rate that hovered far north of Trey Hendrickson or Odafe Oweh’s 2025 numbers). That keyed a huge market, with the $80MM in total guarantees representing the ninth-largest amount among edge defenders.
Phillips and Derrick Brown will be poised to provide an outside-inside tandem, as the Panthers did not feature a player eclipse five sacks in 2025. Carolina made the playoffs anyway, despite a 27th-ranked offense, but has struggled in the sack department since sending Burns to the Giants.
Going into an age-27 season, Phillips has shown better sack work in the past. He notched 6.5 in eight 2023 games, before suffering the Achilles tear on Black Friday. The 6-foot-5 EDGE also combined for 15.5 sacks over his first two seasons. Injuries have been a constant for Phillips, who briefly retired from the sport while at UCLA. Transferring to Miami, Phillips became a first-round pick. His Philly stint cemented one of the better FA cases in recent history, and the Panthers will expect an immediate pass-rushing boost as a result of this commitment.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Ahhh let’s gooo ahhhh yay yay yay hallelujah
Wow. Really good player, but a lot of money for a guy with his medical history.
Eagles lose a guy that fit well, but that’ll be worth a third round comp pick.
Basically they got Phillips for half a season for delayed a 3rd round pick by a few years
Yeah, not bad business at all.
They were one pass rush away from upsetting Rams in wild card weekend. Good to see they are addressing their biggest need in free agency.
Wow, Really good player, but a lot of money for a guy with his medical history. Would be cool to see it work out for the Panthers. A line with Phillips, Derrick Brown, and good development from Scourton could really bully teams.
And hey, the Eagles lose a guy who fit well, but this should be worth a third round comp pick.
Bringing him in was genius on phillys part. They get a defensive boost for half a year. And a comp pick. Wow
Wow. Lot of guaranteed money for an oft-injured player. But if you are Carolina you always have to over pay to get the big names
Bummed to see him go, but at that AAV and guarantee, would have been heavy. In the end, we traded a 2026 3rd for a 2027 3rd comp + 8 games of Phillips.
I completely agree, now we just have to hope that Howie has a good backup plan.
The dude from the Vikes?
Eagles fan here…gah. sucks. But that number is huge for an injury prone guy. Would have loved to keep him. Rather have Davis, Carter than that edge at that number… More than Crosby?
Bears now in Hendrickson or bust territory
Can’t blame the Eagles for not paying that!
Wow that’s a lot of money for a guy with so few sacks.
Totally agree. Great guy to have but with money due very soon for Carter and others, best to save it for the future.
The money now not spent on Phillips opens up toward Coop and Mitchell now, so that’s another positive.
That is an insane amount of money for Phillips. He’s good not great. Plus you have to consider his injury history.
I think pivoting to Chubb might be the answer here.
Him or honestly I’d love Trey on a short term deal.
Ouchie
Big overpay.
Panthers D-line suddenly legit