There was always speculation about what happened with the Philadelphia Eagles not bringing back edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, but it was never explained publicly.

Phillips decided to sign with the Carolina Panthers on a four-year, $120 million contract after having talks with returning to the Eagles. General manager Howie Roseman explained to Eagles reporters at the NFL league meeting why they decided to back off from competing with the Panthers to sign Phillips.

“At some point you’ve got to have a kind of parameters of what you would do, what you wouldn’t do, so you’re doing it in calm times,” Roseman said via The Athletic’s Zach Berman. “Happy for him and his family. Really enjoyed having him as part of our team. Understood why he’s in Carolina.”

Howie Roseman talked about not re-signing Jaelan Phillips

Despite only having five sacks all of last season between the Eagles and Miami Dolphins, Phillips was still a force as he was fifth in hurries with 57 and ninth in pressures with 73. Those types of numbers are going to be hard for Philly to replace off the edge.

The Eagles still have Jalyx Hunt and Nolan Smith Jr. to start, but they still need more help. Hunt put up good numbers last season as he led the team in sacks (six) and interceptions (three) in 2025, the only player in franchise history to achieve that.

So far in the offseason, the Eagles have added Arnold Ebiketie and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka to the edge rusher room. While both guys will help with depth, it won’t replace the kind of production they got from Phillips.

Even with concerns about the position, the Eagles were right not to re-sign Phillips from a financial standpoint. Spending $120 million with the concerns about potentially trading A.J. Brown and trying to bring back other key pieces to the roster seems like too much for the team to handle.

Read more: Explanation of new Eagles receivers being signed actually makes perfect sense

There’s still a chance the Eagles go for a big fish like Minnesota Vikings edge rusher Jonathan Greenard in a trade or select one in the 2026 NFL Draft, but more has to be done at the position, as Phillips is going to be a tough player to replace.