Panthers Outbid Eagles For Jaelan Phillips
Jaelan Phillips‘ $30MM per year contract with the Panthers was the biggest payday of any player to hit free agency.
Multiple teams were in the hunt for his signature, including the Eagles, but the 26-year-old said on Monday (via The Athletic’s Joe Person) that Carolina’s offer was “more attractive” than Philadelphia’s.
The Eagles moved a third-round pick for Phillips at the 2025 trade deadline, and he put up a strong second-half performance, though his counting tallies of two sacks and four tackles for loss do not show it. In the last nine games of the season, he led the defense with 44 pressures, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He finished the year with 76 total pressures and a 18.4% pass rush win rate, both top-10 marks among edge rushers.
Those results created a massive market for Phillips in free agency, and he cashed in. The Eagles will now be in line to pick up a third-round compensatory pick in the 2027 draft, per OverTheCap, as a consolation prize after being outbid by the Panthers.
Carolina did not need to make such an aggressive offer to Rasheed Walker, who drew surprisingly little interest in free agency after three years as the Packers’ starting left tackle. He was aiming for a multi-year contract with a $20MM AAV, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, comparable to what Dan Moore Jr. received from the Titans last year, but had to settle for a one-year, $10MM deal with the Panthers.
Moore’s contract did not age well, so teams may have been hesitant to pay for starting experience rather than true high-end talent. Walker has graded out well as a pass blocker, but his run-blocking grade has never been higher than 56.3 and his pass blocking efficiency has never topped 96.5.
Carolina is an excellent situation for Walker to try to push his valuation into the market he desires. Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu is recovering from a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee, and given that the injury happened in the first round of the playoffs in January, he may not play in 2026. Walker will take his spot for the season in the hopes of a bigger payday this time next year.
Panthers, Jaelan Phillips Agree To Deal
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.
Eagles Have Inquired On Vikings’ Jonathan Greenard; Jalen Carter Drawing Trade Interest
One of this year’s biggest trade candidates has already been dealt, with the Raiders agreeing to send DE Maxx Crosby to the Ravens in exchange for two first-round picks. Another high-profile edge rusher, the Vikings’ Jonathan Greenard, is also said to be available via trade, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports the Eagles have inquired.
It is unclear if talks between Minnesota and Philadelphia are ongoing, though Fowler adds the Vikes have received a number of calls on Greenard. The price to acquire him will be substantially less than the haul Baltimore gave up to land Crosby, with Fowler reiterating his prior report that a Day 2 pick will likely get it done.
The complicating factor here is that Greenard is seeking a raise despite having two years remaining on his current deal and despite coming off a season in which he played in just 12 games due to injury and recorded three sacks. It would make plenty of sense for a team to give up a Day 2 selection to land a pass rusher who posted 24.5 sacks over the 2023-24 seasons, but it would be more surprising to see Greenard secure a new deal at this juncture.
Meanwhile, the Eagles continue to negotiate with Jaelan Phillips, whom they acquired from the Dolphins at the 2025 trade deadline. Philly elected against putting the $28MM franchise tag on Phillips but are nonetheless prepared to authorize a notable contract. Per Fowler, the Eagles are willing to go “well above” $20MM per year for Phillips, who played well during his brief Philadelphia stint.
In addition to Greenard, the Eagles view the Seahawks’ Boye Mafe as a contingency plan if they are unable to retain Phillips, according to Fowler (who adds the club was never really in on Crosby). As those situations continue to unfold, and as A.J. Brown trade rumors continue to swirl, Fowler says Philadelphia GM Howie Roseman is also fielding trade calls for someone other than Brown.
Defensive tackle Jalen Carter is generating outside interest, as Fowler reports. We heard in January that Carter and fellow DT Jordan Davis were among Roseman’s top extension priorities, and the team just agreed to a lucrative extension for Davis. Our Ely Allen suggested that deal may cloud Carter’s future with the Eagles, especially since the 2023 first-rounder could be shooting for an historic pact.
Since he has accumulated three years of service time, Carter is now extension-eligible. The Eagles must make a decision on his fifth-year option by May 1, though it should be an easy call to exercise the option and lock in a $21.04 salary for 2027. To be clear, Fowler does not say whether Philadelphia is entertaining trade inquiries, and he does not mention which teams have reached out.
‘Increased Optimism’ OLB Jaelan Phillips Re-Signs With Eagles
There’s been no shortage of interest in Eagles’ pending free agent outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips, who ranked No. 3 in PFR’s list of the top 50 free agents for the 2026 offseason. Obviously, one of the teams interested in landing his signature was going to be the team that sent a third-round pick to Miami in order to acquire him midseason last year. 
Days after Philadelphia’s season ended, Phillips made it known that he was interested in staying with the team. The team, too, expressed some hope that a deal would get done before the start of free agency, but nothing seemed to be progressing towards an agreement until a couple of reports today. It was NFL insider Jordan Schultz who first dropped an update, reporting that the Eagles “remain very interested” in retaining Phillips and that “talks are expected to continue and intensify.”
A report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport quickly followed in which he relayed that there has been “significant progress made between the Eagles and (Phillips) towards him returning to Philly.” Rapoport went on to say that, while nothing has been made official and no decisions have been made, there is reportedly “increased optimism” that a deal will be reached to keep him in Philadelphia.
The biggest hurdle to this getting done has been the sheer amount of interest in the 26-year-old pass rusher. Elite pass rushers have become an expensive commodity in the NFL, and as the top available free agent at the position, Phillips is sure to command quite a price as teams vie for his signature. Whenever Phillips was a trade target, the 49ers, Patriots, and Commanders joined Philadelphia in pursuit of the young pass rusher. Earlier today, it was reported that Phillips was on a laundry list of pass rushers the Cowboys were interested in as they look to replace the lost production of Micah Parsons. With so many teams interested in the top free agent at the position, there’s certain to be an inflated price tag on Phillips.
The other big hurdle for the Eagles is their existing roster. As Zach Berman of The Athletic puts it, the Eagles roster “at least 10 players on their defense viewed around the league” as being worth more than $10MM per year, not to mention the presence of players likely worth north of $20MM or $30MM per year. Much of the very talented defensive core is young in Philadelphia, and many will graduate from their rookie contracts soon. Because of how things will time out, every time the Eagles begin evaluating a contract offer, they’ll need to keep in mind how it will affect their ability to extend impact defenders in the next few years to come. This is one of the reasons we’ve seen defensive tackle Jalen Carter drawing trade interest.
A key example of the limitations of the salary cap is the situation in Philadelphia with wide receiver A.J. Brown. The idea that the Eagles might try to move Brown via trade has been in place since before the regular season even came to an end. There’s been plenty of interest in the veteran wideout with the Patriots, Bills, and Ravens being named in recent reports. The Bills have since agreed to acquire Bears wide receiver D.J. Moore, and the Ravens may no longer have the draft capital to offer for Brown after sending two Day 1 picks to Las Vegas for Maxx Crosby, but the Patriots remain largely interested in bringing Brown in.
One of the reasons the team hasn’t been able finalize a deal for Brown is due to the salary cap hit his contract holds this year of $23.39MM. This number isn’t completely preventative, but it makes it to where it would be much easier for the Eagles to trade Brown post-June 1. Philadelphia is willing to wait to do that, but there’s a fear that the team will enter free agency trying to work under the assumption that Browns’ numbers will come off the books, but then, by the time they are able to trade him more easily, his market will have dried up as teams got tired of waiting and addressed their receiver issues elsewhere, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
Because of this, Garafolo claims that general manager Howie Roseman has attempted to get creative to work around the cap issue. Per Garafolo, Roseman wanted to test if a delayed trade could occur in which half of the deal happens now with the rest designated post-June 1. Essentially, it doesn’t seem likely that a deal to trade Brown is going to happen before the start of free agency.
Cowboys Interested In Trey Hendrickson, Jaelan Phillips, Odafe Oweh, Boye Mafe
The Cowboys were among the teams which made a major push to acquire Maxx Crosby. With him no longer on the market, however, Dallas’ attention will now shift to free agency. 
A number of options will be available on the open market. A big-ticket addition would go a long way in helping aid the Cowboys’ pass rush, and depth signings may prove necessary as well. Each of Jadeveon Clowney, Sam Williams, Dante Fowler and Payton Turner are currently on track to reach free agency.
With respect to potential Dallas targets, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports Trey Hendrickson remains a pass rusher receiving considerable attention. The Bengals opted to avoid using the franchise tag on Hendrickson, setting him up for a Cincinnati departure. The Cowboys have been mentioned as a logical landing spot in his case, although the 2024 sack champion’s preference may be to sign with the Buccaneers and by doing so remain in Florida.
According to Fowler, the Cowboys also have Jaelan Phillips, Odafe Oweh and Boye Mafe on their radar. Phillips is the only pass rusher ranked ahead of Hendrickson on PFR’s Top 50 Free Agent list. He is a candidate to remain in place with the Eagles after being acquired from Miami at the trade deadline. Otherwise, a strong market will be in store for the former first-rounder. Phillips only played 12 games between the 2023 and ’24 seasons, but a full slate this past campaign will help ease durability concerns in his case.
Oweh was also dealt in the middle of the 2025 season. He thrived upon arrival with the Chargers, racking up 7.5 sacks in 12 games. Los Angeles is interested in keeping the 27-year-old on a new deal, although fellow edge rusher Khalil Mack was re-signed yesterday. That certainly suggests Oweh will at least explore his options once the negotiating window opens tomorrow.
Mafe saw his Seahawks workload reduced during their Super Bowl campaign. That points to a departure, although coming off a season with just two sacks his market will likely not be as strong as some of the other pass rushers in position to land a new contract. Mafe would be a strong scheme fit for Dallas, with the team changing to a 3-4 base under new defensive coordinator Christian Parker.
The Cowboys recently took the expected route of restructuring several contracts. That moved Dallas into cap compliance but there is still work to be done to generate the funds needed for an active free agent period. If a major splash is to be made on the open market, one of the top edge rushers will likely be the target.
Eagles Rumors: Phillips, Goedert, Brown
A few days after the Eagles’ season ended, pending free agent Jaelan Phillips expressed interest in staying in Philadelphia. No deal has come together roughly a month and a half later, but the Eagles are “hopeful” they will re-sign the outside linebacker before free agency opens March 11, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports.
A former Miami Hurricane, Phillips stayed in the area when the Dolphins drafted him 18th overall in 2021. Phillips did not miss a game during his first two seasons, a 34-game span in which he combined for 15.5 sacks. However, between a torn Achilles in 2023 and a partially torn ACL in ’24, Phillips was on the field for just 12 games over the next two seasons.
The 26-year-old Phillips made an encouraging rebound to health during a 17-game 2025. Phillips was still a Dolphin for their first nine games, but the out-of-contention club sent him to the Eagles for a third-round pick before the Nov. 4 trade deadline. The move reunited Phillips with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who held the same post with the Dolphins in 2023.
The Eagles were unable to defend their Super Bowl title last season, but Phillips was nonetheless an effective acquisition. Although he did not post a gaudy sack total (two), he notched 17 pressures, seven QB hits, four passes defensed and four tackles for loss in eight games. Between the Dolphins and Eagles, he combined for the league’s ninth-most pressures (73) with 53 tackles, 14 QB hits, seven TFL and five sacks. Phillips now finds himself in a similar pending free agent tier to fellow 20-something pass rushers Kwity Paye and Odafe Oweh.
Turning to the offensive side, tight end Dallas Goedert also ranks among the Eagles’ noteworthy pending free agents. General manager Howie Roseman has interest in bringing back the career-long Eagle for a ninth season, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. The two sides will continue to talk leading up to free agency.
Notably, Goedert’s potential exit would subject the Eagles to a $20MM dead money charge stemming from void years. That may provide added motivation to re-sign Goedert, who had one of his most productive pass-catching seasons in 2025.
The Eagles heavily relied on Goedert, who registered a 74.7% offensive snap share and led the team with 11 TD grabs (a franchise record for his position). The 31-year-old also ranked third among Eagles in receptions (60), targets (82) and yards (591) over 15 games.
If the Eagles lose Goedert, longtime Browns tight end David Njoku is a potential replacement. While Njoku enjoyed a successful nine-year run in Cleveland, he will walk in free agency in the wake of Harold Fannin‘s emergence as a rookie last season. Njoku could land in Philadelphia, which is interested in the soon-to-be 30-year-old, according to Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94 WIP.
Meanwhile, Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown remains one of the league’s highest-profile trade candidates. The Eagles have insisted on a first-round pick in any package, which has not changed. Offers continue to come in, though Garafolo says Roseman is continuing to hold out for a Quinnen Williams-like return. The Cowboys acquired the defensive tackle from the Jets for a 2027 first-rounder, a 2026 second-rounder and DT Mazi Smith before last year’s trade deadline.
A report last week indicated that Roseman is likely to make a decision on Brown by the start of the legal tampering period on March 9. Electing to either keep or trade Brown by then would give Roseman a better idea how to proceed with other important offseason business.
Trey Hendrickson Among Players Who Did Not Receive Franchise Tag
Tag deadline day in the NFL came and went on Tuesday without much action. The Jets placed the franchise tag on running back Breece Hall, and the Colts used the transition tag on quarterback Daniel Jones. Hall and Jones are rounding out a small 2026 class of tagged players that also includes Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens and Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts.
As PFR’s Sam Robinson wrote in an extensive rundown of tag candidates, Trey Hendrickson, Alec Pierce, Kenneth Walker, Travis Etienne, Odafe Oweh and Jaelan Phillips represented other possibilities. All of their teams passed before the clock ran out at 3 p.m. CT. Each of them will be free to talk to other teams when the legal tampering window opens March 9.
The Bengals “never seriously considered” tagging Hendrickson, according to Dianna Russini of The Athletic. Had they done so and Hendrickson signed the tender, it would have cost $30.2MM against the Bengals’ cap next season. The four-time Pro Bowl defensive end should encounter a “strong market,” per Russini.
For his part, Hendrickson appears to already have one foot out the door. The 31-year-old took to Instagram on Tuesday to post what looks like a goodbye message to the Bengals and their fans.
“To the organization: Thank you for the opportunity to play the game I love at the highest level,” Hendrickson wrote. “The last five years have been filled with great wins and tough losses. Personal achievements and humbling adversities.”
If this is it for Hendrickson in Cincinnati, it will wrap up an enormously productive half-decade in the organization. Hendrickson spent the first four seasons of his career with the Saints before accepting the Bengals’ four-year, $60MM offer in March 2021. He relocated on the heels of what was then a career-high 13.5-sack season, but Hendrickson went on to top that number three times with the Bengals.
During his first year in Cincinnati, Hendrickson piled up 14 sacks in 16 games. The Bengals advanced to the Super Bowl for the third time in franchise history, but they lost a 23-20 nail-biter to the Rams. Hendrickson’s sack total fell to eight in 2022, though he still made his second straight Pro Bowl. The Bengals were once again among the last teams standing. However, since ending that season with a loss to the Chiefs in the AFC title game, they have not returned to the playoffs.
Heading into 2023, the Bengals awarded Hendrickson a one-year, $21MM extension to keep him in the fold through 2025. Even though Hendrickson went off for 17.5 sacks twice in a row from 2023-24, the Bengals could only muster back-to-back nine-win seasons. Hendrickson and the Bengals then engaged in a contentious contract standoff last year. Then seeking a long-term pact, Hendrickson reportedly turned down a three-year, $95MM offer. The Bengals’ rejected proposal did not include any guaranteed money after the first year of the deal.
After a drawn-out fight, the Bengals and Hendrickson finally shook hands on a revised contract in late August. Hendrickson had been in line to earn $16MM, but Cincinnati upped it to $30MM. In hindsight, it was not money well spent for the Bengals. Injuries wound up holding Hendrickson and quarterback Joe Burrow out of a combined 19 games. Their absences proved far too much to overcome during a six-win year for the club.
In what will likely end up as his final year in Cincinnati, Hendrickson played in seven games and totaled four sacks. He did not take the field past Oct. 26, but the Bengals had chances to trade him before the Nov. 4 deadline. Although the Bengals dropped their asking price from a first- to a second-rounder, they kept Hendrickson after nobody offered better than a fourth. Hendrickson, then dealing with a nagging hip issue, underwent core muscle surgery in early December. With no tag weighing him down, he can now turn his full attention to free agency.
2026 NFL Franchise Tag Candidates
We are now in Year 34 of the franchise tag, a retention tool that came about during the same offseason in which full-fledged free agency spawned. The NFL salary cap is rising at a rate allowing teams to hammer out more extensions than in previous periods. That has helped dilute free agency talent pools. This led to a 2025 landscape in which only two players — Tee Higgins and Trey Smith — received the franchise tag. The cap, which stood at $279.2MM in 2025, is expected to rise beyond $301MM this year.
This year’s free agent class looks to feature only one tag lock, but a handful of players make sense as candidates to be kept off the market. An antiquated NFL system regarding positional classifications also affects this year’s free agency crop, as a couple of high-end UFAs-to-be (Tyler Linderbaum, Devin Lloyd) would likely be kept off the market if the league modernized how it sorted positions with regards to tag prices.
Teams who use the franchise or transition tag have until July 15 to complete an extension; otherwise, negotiations cannot restart until after the 2026 season. The transition tag does not bring any compensation back for an unmatched offer sheet, but the two-first-rounder component associated with a franchise tag has not been especially relevant in ages. Although offer sheets have come out in previous eras (Sean Gilbert and Dan Wilkinson signed unmatched offers in the 1990s), clubs avoid these in fear of an unmatched proposal requiring two first-round picks to be sent to the tagging team.
The tag window opens at 3pm CT today. With clubs having until 3pm CT on March 3 to apply tags, here is who may be cuffed:
Likely tag recipients
George Pickens, WR (Cowboys)
Projected tag cost: $28.82MM
The Cowboys have regularly turned to the tag over the past decade. They cuffed DeMarcus Lawrence in 2018 and ’19 before locking down Dak Prescott in 2020 and ’21. The latter Prescott tag was procedural, as the quarterback used the threat of a lofty second tag number hitting Dallas’ cap sheet as leverage toward a player-friendly extension — one that laid the groundwork for his 2024 player-friendly extension. The Cowboys then kept Dalton Schultz (2022) and Tony Pollard (’23) off the market. After two years without unholstering their tag, the Cowboys appear all set to prevent Pickens from reaching free agency.
Acquiring Pickens in a May 2025 trade with the Steelers — which featured a 2026 third-round pick as the top asset going back to Pittsburgh –Dallas reaped immediate benefits from that swap. Pickens, 24, smashed his career-high receiving mark with 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns. That booked the former second-round pick his first Pro Bowl honor; more impressively, Pickens was named a second-team All-Pro. The mercurial ex-Steeler WR1 was more than 300 receiving yards clear of CeeDee Lamb for the Cowboys’ receiving lead; even though Lamb missed three games, Pickens’ per-game average (84.1) better Lamb’s (76.9).
A tag surfaced on the radar here in mid-November, and momentum has steadily built for Pickens to follow in Dez Bryant‘s footsteps as a Cowboy wideout being kept off the market. It will take a near-Saints-level odyssey for the Cowboys to create sufficient cap space for a Pickens tag and reasonable spending room; they are projected to be more than $30MM (per OverTheCap) north of the 2026 salary ceiling, but enough smoke has emerged here — after Pickens fit the tag profile upon arrival — to make it safe to expect this outcome.
The Steelers shipped out Pickens in part because of reliability concerns, but the 6-foot-3 playmaker outperformed — with a considerable QB upgrade in Prescott — his previous work. With Lamb tied to a $34MM-per-year deal and Prescott on an NFL-record $60MM-AAV extension, the Cowboys are far from certain to extend Pickens. A tag-and-trade play has surfaced as a possibility, but with negotiations not having begun as of early February, expect the Cowboys to use the tag to at least buy themselves more time on their ultra-talented WR2.
On tag radar:
Breece Hall, RB (Jets)
Projected tag cost: $14.54MM
The Chiefs offered a fourth-round pick for Hall at the deadline, but the Jets held onto their starting running back after having asked for at least a third-rounder. Hall denied a report he was seeking a New York exit — after the blockbuster deals involving Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams — but he could have a chance to explore his value on the open market soon. The Jets, however, have spoken highly of the 1,000-yard rusher. The tag has surfaced as a possibility.
Hall, 24, is more than two years younger than Etienne. He will thus command more in free agency. The former second-round pick is also more than three years removed from the ACL tear that sidetracked his rookie season. The Jets waited on a Hall extension, keeping him on his rookie contract while giving Gardner and Garrett Wilson big-ticket deals, but Aaron Glenn has spoken highly of the Iowa State alum.
Gang Green wants to retain Hall. The easiest way for that to happen would be to extend his negotiating window via the tag. A $12MM-per-year offer could await the fifth-year player, making a tag logical. If the Jets were to place the transition tag on Hall, it would cost them a projected $11.73MM. They would receive no compensation in the event of an unmatched offer sheet, thus allowing another team to dictate the contract structure a la the Packers’ Kyle Fuller offer sheet in 2018.
The Jets saw Hall sidekick Braelon Allen miss much of the season, but the former Joe Douglas-era fourth-round pick remains signed through 2027. Allen gives the Jets some protection against a Hall exit, with a mid-round 2027 compensatory pick possible as well. But Hall is a dynamic RB that will be an attractive FA commodity if unattached come March 9. The Jets have a big decision to make over the next two weeks.
Trey Hendrickson, DE (Bengals)
Projected tag cost: $34.8MM
The defensive end tag is projected to come in at $27.32MM, but because Hendrickson was attached to a $29MM salary (following a late-summer raise), he is the rare tag candidate to whom the 120% rule would apply. As PFR’s glossary indicates, “the amount of the one-year offer is determined by a formula that includes the salary cap figures and the non-exclusive franchise salaries at the player’s position for the previous five years. Alternately, the amount of the one-year offer can be 120% of the player’s previous salary, if that amount is greater.” In Hendrickson’s case, it would be.
Jaelan Phillips, Nakobe Dean Want To Stay With Eagles
The Eagles’ 2025 season is over, but two of their pending free agents have no desire to leave Philadelphia.
Outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips said (via PHLY Sports’ EJ Smith) that he would prefer to re-sign with the Eagles, though he indicated he would test out free agency. The 26-year-old arrived in Philadelphia at the trade deadline but contributed only two sacks and four tackles for loss in his eight regular-season appearances despite a 78% snap share.
Phillips’ desire to play for a competitive team will likely keep the Eagles high on his list of potential destinations, but the team may not be able to offer him a market-level contract. Phillips’ age and first-round pedigree should attract him plenty of interest in free agency, but his injury history may be cause for concern.
General manager Howie Roseman is known for his aggressive spending, but he has been willing to let talented (but perhaps not elite) players walk in free agency. Last offseason, for example, Josh Sweat and Milton Williams both found new teams as Roseman was not willing to pony up for a pricey contract for either pass rusher. The Eagles need depth at edge rusher with only Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt under contract in 2026, but they have other positions to address, too.
For the same reason, linebacker Nakobe Dean may not get his wish to stay in Philly, either. He met with Roseman after the season ended, per 94WIP’s Eliot Shorr-Parks, but did not get an indication about the team’s plans. And unlike the Eagles’ edge rusher room, their linebacking corps has plenty of talent. The team signed Zack Baun to a three-year, $51MM contract last offseason and spent a first-round pick on Jihaad Campbell. They also have Jeremiah Trotter and Chance Campbell, both solid special teams contributors who could get more defensive opportunities in 2026.
Offensive tackle Fred Johnson is taking a slightly different approach. He said (via The Athletic’s Zach Berman) that “opportunity” will be the biggest factor in his decision. Johnson started 14 games across the last two seasons with time at both tackle spots, but if Lane Johnson returns for the 2026 season, he will not get a starting job in Philadelphia.
“Obviously, this my home team,” Johnson said. “This is where I want to end my career, but you never know how things play out. And I feel like I played myself into a role that is more than just a backup, more than just a guy. I feel like I’m a starter in this league, and I feel like I showed that. I don’t know what the future holds, but the first rights to anything is Philly.”
Johnson said last May that he intends to play out the rest of his current contract, which goes through 2027, but his injuries this season could change his mind. In that case, Johnson would be a strong candidate to re-sign in Philadelphia and take on the starting right tackle job moving forward.
Eagles Acquire Jaelan Phillips From Dolphins
At least one member of the Dolphins‘ pass rush tandem will be on the move ahead of the trade deadline. A deal involving Jaelan Phillips was discussed late Sunday night, with the terms emerging early Monday morning. 
The Dolphins are sending Phillips to the Eagles, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter. A 2026 third-round pick is heading the other way. Schefter clarifies the selection Miami is acquiring is Philadelphia’s own (one of two picks in that round the team had). The deal is now official.
This move represents yet another piece of midseason business on the part of Eagles GM Howie Roseman. The team had already swung three trades since the beginning of the campaign, with the two most recent deals (for Michael Carter II from the Jets and fellow cornerback Jaire Alexander from the Ravens) being aimed at adding depth on defense. Pass rush remained an area of concern heading into the deadline, however. As such, many pointed to Philadelphia as a destination for an edge rusher in general and Phillips in particular. This swap was discussed for more than one week, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated adds.
The 26-year-old overlapped with Vic Fangio in 2023. Fangio was in Miami as the team’s defensive coordinator for that campaign before taking on the same role with the Eagles. That season, Phillips notched 6.5 sacks despite being limited to just eight games. The former first-rounder only managed to play four games last season, and injury concerns were a talking point with respect to his trade value. Nevertheless, Phillips – alongside teammate Bradley Chubb – has long been mentioned as a player on the radar of interested teams. He is attached to his fifth-year option, making this a rental move.
Phillips’ base salary for 2025 ($13.25MM) made him one of the more expensive options in terms of finances, even with a portion of that figure already having been paid out. To help facilitate this deal, Miami is taking on money. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports the Dolphins are retaining some of Phillips’ remaining salary in return for a higher draft pick. The Dolphins converted $5.13MM of Phillips’ remaining base salary into a signing bonus, per Field Yates of ESPN.com. The Eagles will pay Phillips a $1.5MM salary through the end of the season.
A third-rounder appears to be a relatively steep price for a rental, but the Eagles have been in need of help along the edge all year. The defending Super Bowl champions lost Josh Sweat in free agency and traded away Bryce Huff this past offseason. Za’Darius Smith elected to hang up his cleats during the campaign, while Brandon Graham recently unretired to play a 16th season with Philadelphia.
When Graham makes his season debut, it will be as a depth member of a defensive end group now featuring Phillips along with the likes of Nolan Smith (when healthy) and Jalyx Hunt. Phillips has handled a snap share of 71% or higher three times in his career, and a notable workload can be expected down the stretch as a member of the Eagles. Returning to the form he showed under Fangio would provide a critical boost to Philadelphia’s front seven while also helping his free agent stock (something which would be welcomed since the UCLA and Miami alum has notched just three sacks in 2025).
For the Dolphins, meanwhile, this news comes as little surprise. The decision to move on from general manager Chris Grier came just before the trade deadline, leading many to believe a shift in approach would take place. Indeed, reports from the past few days have indicated interim GM Champ Kelly will be more willing to entertain offers leading up to tomorrow afternoon’s deadline. It will thus be interesting to see if more moves are coming for Miami, a 2-7 team which will use the remainder of the season to evaluate head coach Mike McDaniel‘s job security.
As a result of this trade, the Dolphins now have three third-round picks in 2026. That capital will be key in helping the team add needed cost-controlled players moving forward, regardless of who is in place as general manager by the time April’s draft takes place. As for the Eagles, they entered Monday with roughly $11.5MM in cap space. This Phillips deal will eat into that figure but room for even more activity on the trade front could exist if Roseman finds a low-cost rental in the near future.