It’s no surprise that Harrison Phillips was the recipient of this year’s Dennis Byrd Award as the most inspirational Jet. His words of wisdom are a joy to listen to, be you player, reporter or fan.
Phillips framed his remarks Monday as he and his teammates were heading for parts known and unknown after the end of the Jets’ 2025 season with an apt comment about time and longevity, or lack thereof, in his chosen profession. He knows he’s the unusual cat in this pack, having already completed three times the amount of experience an average NFL player gets before he hangs up his pads for the last time.
“As an older player that has less football in front of him than behind him — I’m in Year 9 now, I don’t know if I’m playing 18, but God, that would be so great — when a season finishes like this, it’s very frustrating,” Phillips said. “I told the young players here the league average is you’re going to play three seasons. This is Year 1, 33 percent of your career was this. You need to understand the urgency that this offseason takes.
“I know it’s been a hard year and you’ve got to rest, you want to recover, but when you show back up here in April, that’s the biggest jump you’re going to have made in your whole career, so make sure it’s the biggest jump you can. Because eventually they’re going to lock you in a box: ‘Hey, he’s a special teamer, he’s a backup, he’s a four-phase guy, he’s a starter, he’s a three-down player, he’s a franchise player.’ And those boxes they put you in happen really early in your career.”
Although he understands the diehard Green & White fans’ frustrations as well at 10 straight losing seasons and 15 without a playoff game, he advises a similar approach to the one he gave to the young dudes on the team: One year at a time.
“I understand the emotions they have with the organization,” he said. “As difficult as it may be, because we’re all scarred from past traumas, and I know how much this means to the fans, you can’t just say to them, ‘Hey, go to a blank slate.’ But you need to say, ‘I believe in the head coach, I believe in the general manager, I believe in the people they’ve put in place, and this was Year 1.’
“I can get your frustrations. But for us new people to this organization, it’s our first year and you’ve got to give us some grace for right now. … There was so much stuff we had to figure out. Give us the next eight months of an offseason and let us go out there and try to put our best foot forward next season and let’s see what the results show.”