The Philadelphia Eagles entered their bye week feeling like a different team.
Come Monday Night Football this week, they’ll actually look like one.
True to form, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman attacked his team’s most glaring roster weaknesses, adding two veteran cornerbacks in Michael Carter II and Jaire Alexander, and a productive young edge defender in Jaelan Phillips.
Fans are still trying to wrap their heads around the Alexander move, but he’s the kind of big-name talent that Roseman loves to buy low on. Carter should integrate into the defense right away, spelling Cooper DeJean at the nickel spot while opening up more opportunities to kick DeJean outside.
Phillips is the no-doubter. With Nolan Smith Jr. nearing a return from the triceps injury that’s forced him to miss five games, Phillips figures to fill a prominent role right away as arguably the Eagles’ new No. 1 pass rusher.
In fact, advanced stats from the first half of the 2025 season already have fans turning their heads, and Phillips hasn’t even debuted for the Eagles yet.
New Philadelphia Eagles edge Jaelan Phillips brings elite pass-rushing metrics to the reigning Super Bowl champions
It’s fair to wonder if Phillips is even running at 100 percent speed this season. He’s only a year removed from a 2024 ACL tear and two years removed from tearing his Achilles in November of 2023.
That’s a scary proposition, because prior to the trade, Phillips was operating as one of the NFL’s most efficient pass rushers for a bad Miami Dolphins team.
Per Bleacher Report analyst Brandon Thorn, Phillips ranks fourth in the league in high-quality pressure rate, which is adjusted by total snaps. His 32 pressures on the season lead all Eagles defenders — and his upside going forward is massive, working off Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo on the interior.
The Week 9 update to the True Pressure Rate is up. 1,493 pressures from 53 rushers studied, charted and graded.
The top 40 in fewest pass-rush snaps per high-quality (1v1 win) pressure: pic.twitter.com/RqRQr2LWGe
— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) November 5, 2025
The No. 2 cornerback spot has been an issue all season for Philadelphia, but the Eagles might’ve had better depth at that position than fans realized.
Adding help on the edge was the must-have before this year's trade deadline, as it’s impossible to know what the now unretired Brandon Graham has left in the tank, and Philly's current crop of edge defenders has combined for just three sacks in eight games.
Read more:Eagles could break their draft trend with big offensive swing in 2026
Phillips brings some big-time juice to the lineup, and fans can only hope his sizable impact with Miami carries over (starting Week 10 against the Green Bay Packers).