No one saw this one coming.
Not only is Jaelan Phillips leaving the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency for a nine-figure contract.
He's doing it to sign with the Carolina Panthers, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.
It's a four-year, $120 million deal with $80 million guaranteed.
The Eagles knew when they traded for Phillips from the Dolphins before the 2025 deadline that he was on an expiring contract.
They likely hoped to extend him anyway, but that didn't happen. The Panthers came in with way too much cash.
"Phillips comes with that injury history, but he played well for the Eagles after being traded to Philadelphia from Miami at the deadline -- and they have at least some interest in trying to keep him," ESPN's Dan Graziano wrote last week. "Two of his five sacks last season came in Philly. He's a young free agent (still just 26), and that helps mitigate the injury risk a little. It's possible he does a one-year prove-it deal somewhere if his market doesn't do what he hopes it does. And it's also possible a division rival snatches him away."
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Neither of those things happened.
Phillips needed nothing approaching a one-year, prove-it deal.
He also didn't go to Graziano's prediction, the Washington Commanders.
Instead, he bolsters a Carolina team that is on the rise, and Philly will have to improve its pass rush elsewhere.
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