Of the six Miami Dolphins players who logged two or more sacks last season, only three begin Week 1 on the active roster.
Defensive tackle Christian Wilkins and linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel sought greener pastures with the Raiders and Vikings, respectively, while pass rusher Bradley Chubb will miss at least the team's first four games on the physically unable to perform list.
That leaves DT Zach Sieler (10 sacks in 2023), LB Emmanuel Ogbah (5.5 sacks) and pass rusher Jaelan Phillips, who had 6.5 sacks at the time of his Achilles tear on Nov. 24.
The former first-rounder, now 25, will play a pivotal role in helping Miami maintain pressure in the early going as the team integrates new parts and waits for old pieces like Chubb to return, something of a challenge for Phillips as he looks to come back from a major injury of his own.
Posed a hypothetical Thursday about a snap count coming into play during close fourth-quarter games, Phillips noted it's ultimately not up to him, but his intention will be to see the field as often as possible.
"Hopefully it doesn’t come down to that," Phillips said, per the team transcript. "Hopefully, we go out there and handle our business. But regardless, I’m here to do whatever they need me to do. Obviously, I’m going to be pushing to play as much as I can, but I’ve got to be smart at the end of the day. It’s a long season, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Phillips has been ramping up alongside Ogbah and first-round rookie Chop Robinson since coming off the PUP list on Aug. 12, although he didn't play in any preseason contests.
His first in-game test will instead take place Sept. 8 against the Jaguars, less than 10 months after a Black Friday injury late in a dominant win against the Jets ended his most productive campaign to date.
Phillips' 6.5 sacks through eight games played during the 2023 season were just two shy of his career high of 8.5, which came as a rookie in 2021. He had also been logging tackles (43) and tackles for loss (7) at a higher frequency than either of his previous two seasons, and a week before getting hurt collected his first career interception.
Despite plateauing thus far in the upper-single digits for sacks and despite the hill he has to climb in showcasing the same explosive burst off the line, Phillips remains confident he'll boost his productivity.
"I never really have sack goals when it comes to that," he said. "I just want to be disruptive and be productive. I know that I’m a 10-plus sack guy. I know that I can go out there and disrupt the quarterback, stop the run, do anything I need to do to for this team. So the numbers will fall when they fall, but I’m going to go out there and try my best.”
Miami will be counting on him doing so as it looks to get over a hump of its own, having finished second in the AFC East now for two years running.
All signs a week out from the start of the season suggest Phillips is physically ready to rise to that task.
“It’s really been kind of like a steady -- the last about a month and a half, every time I would start to add load and do new things, I would just kind of surprise myself with how my Achilles didn’t get sore at all and it didn’t really react at all," Phillips said. "There’s been a couple of times where I’d be watching myself, watching whatever drills I’m doing, I’ll see myself in my stance really pushing off of it, and there’s no rebound, there is no weakness. It’s just explosive, it’s feeling great. I just feel very grateful to play.”