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<\/p>\nCORAL GABLES, Fla. \u2014 The beat is heavy in the control room of the L. Austin Weeks Recording Studio at the University of Miami\u2019s Frost School of Music.<\/p>\n
Dolphins outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips sits in front of three mixing consoles and what must be a thousand knobs, levers, dials and buttons. The wallpaper on his laptop reads \u201cDon\u2019t Overthink S\u2014.\u201d<\/p>\n
He cues up a song called \u201cDestiny\u201d that he tracked and mixed. A mostly self-taught music engineer, Phillips briefly studied at Frost before changing majors because of football. For this song, which has not been published, he did some subtle tuning, found a pleasant frequency and compressed the vocals.<\/p>\n
Phillips has time for music because he has missed a good portion of the last two seasons with injuries.<\/p>\n
The first one came just as he was beginning to realize the potential that made him the No. 1 outside linebacker recruit in the country and the 18th pick of the 2021 NFL Draft. As the Dolphins prepared for a 2023 game against the Jets, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel pulled Phillips aside and told him, \u201cYou\u2019re going to be a household name after this game.\u201d Then Phillips took down quarterback Tim Boyle, his sixth sack in five games.<\/p>\n
But on a fourth-quarter pass rush, Phillips shot out of his stance as he had many times before. Then he felt something in the back of his ankle explode and jolt up his leg. His Achilles tendon was ruptured, and he didn\u2019t have to be told.<\/p>\n
Heartbreak flowed down his cheeks for a good 10 minutes, as he lay on the ground, was helped to a cart and driven to the locker room. Then, as he showered, the water rinsed away his self-pity. Phillips pivoted, thanking God for the opportunity to overcome a setback he knew he could handle.<\/p>\n
In the months that followed, he worked like a man possessed to return. In the 2024 season opener against the Jaguars on third-and-14 with a little more than two minutes remaining and the score tied at 17, Phillips sacked Trevor Lawrence, forcing a punt that set up the game-winning drive for Miami.<\/p>\n
\u201cA surreal feeling,\u201d is how he remembers it. \u201cA very high high.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like most high highs, it didn\u2019t last long. Three weeks later, he was speared in his knee by a teammate. Thinking, or hoping, he tore his MCL, Phillips put on a brace and kept playing. But when he tried to cut, the knee gave out. It was no torn MCL. Phillips sat on the field and slammed the ground, thoroughly dismayed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ten months after rupturing his Achilles, Dolphins outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips tore his ACL on Sept. 30, 2024. (Jasen Vinlove \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
Now, seven months after he tore his ACL and 17 months after he tore his Achilles, Phillips sits back in the studio and bobs his head as \u201cDestiny\u201d plays out.<\/p>\n
And somehow, as difficult as it may be to conceive, Phillips is in a good place. A really good place.<\/p>\n
Phillips was that kid who was good at everything. In elementary and high school, he had only one B \u2014 the rest were A\u2019s. When other kids his age were reading \u201cA Series of Unfortunate Events\u201d (recommended for grades third through sixth), he was reading \u201cThe Hobbit\u201d (recommended for grades seventh through 12th). He played on a team that won a travel baseball championship in Cooperstown, N.Y. At Redlands East Valley High in Redlands, Calif., he played varsity baseball, volleyball, track and football.<\/p>\n
After starting out as a wide receiver and safety, Phillips rushed the passer in one-on-one drills for the first time in the summer of his junior year at Redlands East. Then over the next two seasons, he had 31 1\/2 sacks. He could have gone to any college and chose UCLA partly because he connected with coach Jim Mora.<\/p>\n
As a true freshman in 2017, he had 3 1\/2 sacks in seven games despite two sprained ankles and a concussion. After the season, Mora was fired. Then Phillips broke his wrist and sustained ligament damage in a moped accident. Multiple surgeries were necessary, including one that removed three bones.<\/p>\n
He was ready for the start of the season, but in the fourth game, he suffered another concussion. Doctors advised him to retire. Phillips wasn\u2019t enjoying playing for new coach Chip Kelly. His wrist was killing him. Phillips, so he thought, was done with football.<\/p>\n
But quitting was hard. He missed the privilege that went with being the big man on campus. His identity, the way he saw it, had been \u201cJaelan Phillips, football player.\u201d He lost a lot of weight and then a lot of confidence. People kept asking him why he was so skinny. Was something wrong? <\/p>\n
Phillips felt worthless. He started partying too much and self-medicating. \u201cI experienced anxiety and depression, and to cope with it. I had unhealthy methods that made me more anxious and depressed,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was an unhealthy spiral.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phillips wanted to pursue a music career, but his father, Jonathan Phillips, advised him to keep an open mind about his future. He transferred to Miami because he was accepted at Frost. A return to the game still was uncertain, but he decided to see if the football embers could be rekindled.<\/p>\n
On a diet of 260 grams of protein daily and a rigorous lifting routine, Phillips gained 50 pounds in a few months and looked like a linebacker again.<\/p>\n
After sitting out the 2019 season, Phillips was behind Greg Rousseau on the Hurricanes\u2019 2020 depth chart. But when Rousseau took advantage of the COVID-19 opt-out provision and sat out the season, Phillips became a starter. He had eight sacks and 16 tackles for a loss in 10 games.<\/p>\n
As the 2021 draft neared, Phillips turned the NFL\u2019s focus to his potential and away from his past. If a scout were to draw up the perfect outside linebacker \u2014 one who stood 6-foot-5 \u00bd, weighed 260 pounds, had 33 \u00bc-inch arms, ran the 40-yard-dash in 4.57 seconds and short shuttle in 4.18 with a 36-inch vertical jump \u2014 it\u2019d be Phillips.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Jaelan Phillips, a self-taught music engineer who comes from a musical family, has turned to music in difficult times. (Courtesy of Jaelan Phillips)<\/p>\n
In his first NFL season, Phillips had 8 1\/2 sacks and made the Pro Football Writers of America\u2019s All-Rookie team. By 2023, dreamers were measuring the space between Hall of Famer Jason Taylor and Phillips, telling themselves the gap wasn\u2019t that vast.<\/p>\n
Then, the injuries.<\/p>\n
The torn ACL required harvesting Phillips\u2019 patellar tendon, resulting in a vertical scar of about four inches running down his kneecap, and excruciating pain for close to two weeks.<\/p>\n
It would have been understandable if Phillips had gone down another dark hole \u2014 even if he retired again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly thought from the outside looking in, \u2018Oh, man, that\u2019s gonna break somebody,\u2019\u201d Dolphins teammate Bradley Chubb says. \u201cBut I knew he was a different person from the conversations we had and the process we went through the year before.\u201d<\/p>\n
There isn\u2019t a lot of gray in a football life. It\u2019s usually either standing ovations or middle fingers, and Phillips sometimes struggles to separate feedback from feelings. It is especially trying when he can\u2019t provide value to his team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m an entertainer and my profession is performance-based, and it\u2019s so publicly performance-based,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a really depressing and horrible feeling to be hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, more than ever, Phillips has ways of coping with the feelings that shadowed him in his worst times.<\/p>\n
Back when football was misery, music was joy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was making music, it didn\u2019t even feel like time was passing by,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d be up until 4 in the morning tuning vocals and doing meticulous things.\u201d<\/p>\n
His grandfather Jon Robertson conducted symphonies at the University of Redlands for decades, and Phillips eagerly attended many performances, likening them to big sporting events. Phillips\u2019 mother, Sabine Robertson-Phillips, met his father when she was a cellist and he was a trumpet player in La Sierra University\u2019s symphony.<\/p>\n
Jaelan played piano for most of his childhood, then picked up guitar in middle school. He still tinkers with both instruments and incorporates classical music theories into the songs he writes and engineers.<\/p>\n
Just as music was therapeutic for him in 2018, it has been healing again.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when I\u2019ve been stressed out, doubtful and unconfident, I\u2019ve been able to do things that make me feel good,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Many things have made him feel good lately. Among them:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Binge-reading epic fantasy novels. Since being injured, he has read the \u201cMistborn\u201d trilogy, which is 1,854 pages, \u201cThe Way of Kings\u201d from The Stormlight Archive, which is 1,007 pages, and seven \u201cSolo Leveling\u201d animated novels, totaling about 1,600 pages.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Hanging with Pat, his Ragdoll kitten. Phillips, a cat guy, takes Pat on drives.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Talking with a therapist about his feelings and self-improvement avenues.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Traveling to Italy, Turks and Caicos, plus California.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Serving an internship with a real estate development company and a fellowship with a company that helps pro athletes transition to their next phase.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Going easy on himself. In the past, Phillips had been very regimented with his diet, workout and routine. But he lets up now, sometimes having a gelato, skipping leg day or sleeping in.<\/p>\n
And then there is Sam Alsop.<\/p>\n
Their story began in the fourth grade when they shared a class. She wanted him on her team for capture the flag, and Phillips had a crush on her. In high school, they dated for three months, then each went down their life\u2019s paths, occasionally reaching out to say hello, happy birthday or what\u2019s up. During their college years, when both were home for a summer, they once connected for burritos and pedicures at a salon called Serendipity.<\/p>\n
Then they went their separate ways again.<\/p>\n
After completing her didactic school year to become a physician\u2019s assistant, Alsop was randomly assigned to do clinical work in Miami last fall. She was ready to travel to Florida when she was informed that her apartment wouldn\u2019t be ready when she needed it. Alsop had to find someplace else to stay for a few nights. Her mother suggested she ask Phillips if he had a spare room. She felt awkward about it but asked anyway, and he was happy to help an old friend.<\/p>\n
After her first night at Phillips\u2019 place, she attended his game against the Titans, when he tore his ACL.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, Phillips had a lot of time and a lot of emotion to process, and he and Alsop were staying up until 4 in the morning in deep conversation. A couple of nights after his injury, they went for sushi.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that point, I couldn\u2019t tell if I was a friend or a romantic interest,\u201d she says. \u201cThen that night, he was like, \u2018Oh my gosh, you look so beautiful.\u2019 He seemed a little more touchy. I was like, \u2018OK, I think I might not be just a friend.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Alsop moved into her own place, and Phillips helped her assemble a dresser and a desk and hung a television. But she did more for him than he could have for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s been invaluable to me,\u201d he says. \u201cShe\u2019s made everything better. She\u2019s amazing. And I can\u2019t help but feel it\u2019s not coincidental the way we reconnected.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Jaelan Phillips and Sam Alsop have known each other since the fourth grade but only recently have become a couple. (Courtesy of Jaelan Phillips)<\/p>\n
He wrote a song called \u201cSammy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t be without you. I can\u2019t breathe without you. I can\u2019t sleep without you. Really can\u2019t be without you. Like prescription glasses girl without you, I can\u2019t see without you. Really can\u2019t see without you. <\/p>\n
You know I love you for life Sam. I\u2019m finna make you my wife. Even through trouble and strife, I\u2019m gonna always make it right. And I never pick a fight with you. And it\u2019s feeling so right with you. <\/p>\n
Loving Alsop hasn\u2019t meant loving football less.<\/p>\n
His sport hasn\u2019t always loved him back, but Phillips\u2019 devotion is without conditions. Maybe now more than ever.<\/p>\n
Of course, he loves the competition. He loves the routines that keep him accountable physically and sharp mentally. The feeling of brotherhood is special to him. And there is nothing like the stadium\u2019s rumble after a sack or a joyous victory celebration in a secluded locker room.<\/p>\n
Phillips loves football for the platform it gives him. Last year, he started The Jaelan Phillips Foundation and awarded scholarships to Frost for two high school students and sponsored MusicReach, which provides free music education to elementary, middle and high school students. If community service events attended were a statistic, Phillips would be a league leader.<\/p>\n
Football enables him to inspire \u2014 and that may be the most important reason he loves it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t believe how many people reach out and tell me my perseverance has motivated them to get through a hard time in their life, or think more positively about a situation,\u201d he says. \u201cIf my personal struggles can be a bright spot for people, that strengthens my resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phillips, who turns 27 on Wednesday, might have more behind him than almost anyone his age.<\/p>\n
And more ahead.<\/p>\n
Dolphins strength coach Dave Puloka says Phillips has consistently sought to be challenged and pushed during his latest rehab, and it is showing. Chubb says Phillips has had to be held back from doing too much.<\/p>\n
As his mentality served him well, so have his genes. Phillips is what trainers call a \u201cresponder,\u201d meaning he can almost make strength gains just by looking at a dumbbell.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you are dealing with responders, the timelines can exceed the expectations,\u201d Puloka says. \u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of physically gifted players in 18 years here, and he\u2019s up there in the top percentile.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phillips says his knee feels \u201cincredible.\u201d He also says his Achilles is doing great. His wrist no longer hinders him. And he hasn\u2019t had a concussion in seven years.<\/p>\n
He wouldn\u2019t change a thing, believing his struggles are the rhythm in his life\u2019s song.<\/p>\n
All of it will be celebrated if he reaches his goals, which include winning Comeback Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Walter Payton Man of the Year, as well as having his contract extended before he becomes a free agent after the season.<\/p>\n
Not long ago, he was limited to linear running without cutting. When OTAs began, Phillips didn\u2019t know if he could participate in on-field drills.<\/p>\n
Now, on practice fields lined by palm trees, he glides and bursts through drills, moving as if that scar on his knee isn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n
Phillips is in a good place. A really good place.<\/p>\n
(Top photo: Rich Storry \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORAL GABLES, Fla. \u2014 The beat is heavy in the control room of the L. Austin Weeks Recording…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,216,251,2972,2087,6,666],"class_list":{"0":"post-82372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-dolphins","12":"tag-miami-hurricanes","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-ucla-bruins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114579230173156248","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}