Getty
ESPN’s Tim McManus predicted general manager Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles to make a final push for re-sign outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips.
Outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips will become an unrestricted free agent next week. But not without first the Philadelphia Eagles trying one more time to re-sign him.
That’s what ESPN’s Tim McManus wrote on Friday he expects to happen before the league officially starts free agency. The NFL’s legal tampering period begins Monday while free agents can officially sign with new teams at 4 pm ET on Wednesday.
“Make a push to re-sign OLB Jaelan Phillips. Acquired from the Dolphins at the November trade deadline for a third-round pick, Phillips proved to be a fit both for Vic Fangio’s scheme and in the locker room,” McManus wrote. “He is still young (26), plays a premium position and is effective against the run and pass.
“The front office will invest significant money into that kind of player.”
It will take a significant investment for any team to sign Phillips this offseason. The Athletic’s Daniel Popper predicted the edge rusher to be worth $98 million on a 4-year contract.
Such a contract would give Phillips a $24.5 million average annual salary.
Will Eagles Re-Sign Edge Rusher Jaelan Phillips?
The assumption has been for most of the offseason that the Eagles will allow Phillips to test free agency. Philadelphia only has about $13.7 million in cap space as of March 6.
That’s not a lot of money to play with, and the Eagles, because of the way they construct their contracts, don’t have any restructure candidates on their roster to create more cap space.
However, general manager Howie Roseman has the reputation as a wiz with the league’s salary cap. If the team wants to re-sign Phillips, then Roseman is, at the very least, likely to maneuver a way to make keeping the edge rusher work.
There’s little reason why the Eagles wouldn’t want Phillips back.
Although he’s yet to really bust out on the stat sheet, Phillips has been a solid edge rusher in five NFL seasons. In 2025, he had five sacks with seven tackles for loss and 14 quarterback hits splitting the year with the Eagles and Miami Dolphins.
The Eagles gave up a 2026 third-round pick for Phillips in November.
Phillips will turn 27 in May. If the Eagles sign him to a 4-year deal, the contract will expire when he is 30 years old.
Projecting Phillips’s 2026 Free Agency Market Value
Popper has Phillips ranked as the No. 2 pending free agent for the 2026 offseason. That’s why The Athletic writer made such a high projection for the 26-year-old edge rusher.
It’s not clear, though, that Phillips will land that big of a contract.
Spotrac predicted the edge rusher to be worth $52.02 million on a 3-year contract. That hypothetical deal would pay Phillips a $17.3 million average annual salary.
That’s $7 million less than Popper’s projection. Either way, it will take a sizable deal for the Eagles to retain Phillips. But that is a significant difference.
It could be the difference between the Eagles squeezing Phillips back on the roster or not.
In 63 NFL games, Phillips has posted 28 sacks, 32 tackles for loss and 68 quarterbacks hits in his career. He dealt with serious lower-leg injuries during the 2023 and 2024 campaigns, which sidelined him for 22 contests.
But Phillips played every game in 2025. Pundits don’t seem to expect his injury past to impact his free agency.
Phillips had a career-high 8.5 sacks as a rookie in 2021. He then had 7 sacks with 25 quarterback hits during 2022.
Dave Holcomb is a sports reporter covering the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions. Originally from Pittsburgh, Holcomb has covered college and professional sports for outlets including FanSided, Rotowire and Yardbarker. More about Dave Holcomb
More Heavy on Eagles
Loading more stories