Jaelan Phillips
Getty
Philadelphia Eagles edge rusher Jaelan Phillips signed a 4-year, $120 million free agent contract with the Carolina Panthers.
The Philadelphia Eagles really wanted to bring back edge rusher Jaelan Phillips in 2026. They just didn’t want to have to make him 1 of the NFL’s highest-paid players at his position to do so.
Instead, the Eagles let Phillips leave in free agency for a “Back Up The Brinks Truck” 4-year, $120 million free-agent contract with the upstart Carolina Panthers.
Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon singled out Phillips’ contract as the NFL’s worst “Overpay” in the 2026 free agent cycle.
“Phillips is a talented player entering his prime who had 35 pressures in 2025 — good for 12th in the league,” Gagnon wrote. “But we’re talking about a player whose best season in terms of sacks (8.5) came back in his rookie season in 2021. A player who suffered an Achilles tendon tear and a torn ACL in consecutive seasons. And a player who hasn’t had seven sacks in a campaign since 2022. Sure, Phillips has potential. But $30 million a season is a lot to pay for ‘maybe.’ “
Deal for Jaelan Phillips Set NFL Record
The Eagles made a deft move trading with the Miami Dolphins for Phillips right before the NFL trade deadline, and he ended up being the missing piece on a defense that wound up being elite down the stretch — a defense that is still without an elite edge rusher headed into 2026.
“Panthers wanted a top rusher, circling on Jaelen Phillips and Odafe Oweh,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler wrote on his official X account. “Could still add a top linebacker and/or slot corner.”
Paying $30 million per year for Phillips was probably never in Philadelphia’s plans, and he far exceeded his market projections, where Spotrac predicts his market value in the realm of a 3-year, $52 million contract.
There was little doubt that the number could go much, much higher — some thought as high as $80 million.
Philllips’ deal with the Panthers ended up being the largest contract for a non-skill player in NFL free-agent history.
Jaelan Phillips Has Brutal Injury History
The problem with Phillips boils down to injuries.
Even though the 6-foot-5, 260-pound edge rusher played all 17 games in 2025, he missed 19 games over the previous 2 seasons due to a torn ACL in 2023 and torn achilles tendon in 2024. Those are the type of injuries that put a big question mark on making any sort of deal for him.
“Philly vastly overpaid forPhillips (in the trade), whose sack production has been average since his rookie year,” former NFL scouting director Greg Gabriel wrote on his official X account. “And he’s coming out of contract, so he’s a rental.”
If you know anything about how the Eagles have paid players in recent years, it’s not a leap to think they would be loathe to cough up another big contract to a free agent edge rusher who wasn’t a bona fide star.
It’s kind of where all these problems started for the Eagles in the first place. Before the 2024 season, they coughed up a 3-year, $51.1 million contract for free agent edge rusher Bryce Huff and gave the in-house guy, Josh Sweat, a 1-year, $10 million contract.