Jaelan Phillips – January 6, 2022
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Thursday, January 6, 2022
LB Jaelan Phillips
(We saw you won the Nat Moore Community Service Award for the team. Congratulations on that. Just your thoughts on winning that and what you did to win it.) – “When I came down to South Florida, the first thing that I knew was that I wanted to really make an impact in the community both on the field and off the field. Even in college, I tried to do my part doing community service with the team and with the athletic department, handing out food and supplies to the homeless people down in Overtown and different events like that. But when I went to the league, I obviously knew that my ability to do more increased in that the platform that I had would give me the ability to really spread that philanthropic mindset that I have and so I’ve been trying to do as much as a I can for the community. I’ve been blessed to be able to be with a team who is extremely helpful in facilitating a lot of that for me and my agency, they help me out with a lot of things. It’s extremely important for me to give back and make an impact in this community.”
(Congrats on the award and a good rookie season. How would you assess your year if we don’t get a chance to talk to you after Sunday?) – “I think there was a lot of growth. I started off slow where I didn’t really know what expectations I had, but I definitely had to learn how to manage my own expectations and really bought into the process of week-by-week trying to improve on my technique and little things. And ultimately, I had some success. We had team success. But I still have a ton to improve on and obviously we’re not happy with the results of the season. I’m just ready to finish off strong and keep grinding.”
(How much of a goal is it to be a most every-down player? Edge players don’t play every down, but I think you’ve played 53 percent of the defensive snaps. How much of a goal is it to get that number over 60, 65? And what do you need to do to achieve that, do you think?) – “Ultimately, I want to be able to do what I can, what’s best for the team really. But obviously it’s all about trust. So my goal really coming into next season is to solidify myself as a person that can be trusted on early downs. It’s just about improving all aspects of the game and really buying into the process.”
(Congratulations on this award. I know how much it means to people out in the community when they see somebody like you – a professional athlete – showing them that they care. I’m wondering how were you affected? Is there an event or person that you interacted with that sort of resonates with you and actually impacted you this year?) – “Yeah, I think the Lotus House in particular was extremely profound to me. I really do believe that the kids are the future and kids are extremely impressionable and they see a lot on a day-to-day basis. So I feel like if I can come in there and even just give them some motivation, give them some kind words, do everything I can for them, I really do believe that makes a bigger impact than – not to say that helping adults doesn’t make a huge impact because it does – but I think that for me it really hits home for me when I hang out with the kids and when I see the kids in these situations. And so that’s really what kind of tugs at my heartstrings, for sure.”
(I have to look up and read about Lotus House. Forgive me for not being familiar. Can you just kind of quickly educate me on the kind of kids who are there and is there a story you heard or something?) – “Yeah, so Lotus House basically is a shelter and like after-school service for single mothers and their kids who are homeless or who are challenged in that regard. So we come in there and basically I used to try to get there around 3, 4 o’clock. That’s when the kids get off school, and they just have a bunch of arts and crafts and games for them to play and workshop things. They have like a little nail studio that the little girls go in and are able to do that. It’s just an incredible place and the people who put everything on are incredible. So that’s kind of the short synopsis on Lotus House. Forgive me for not having a great explanation, but that’s basically what it is.”
(The vision is for you to be an outside linebacker and not just an exclusive pass rusher. Where do you feel like your development is in that whole phase of your game?) – “I think for me, the most important thing, like I said, is reliability on early downs. And for me really that’s – like you mentioned, I heard you say with Jevon (Holland) – you’re talking about eye patience. Like that’s something for me that I especially have to work on and just consistency, being in good positions, getting low pad level and different things like that. I’m just really looking to be that consistent and reliable every-down player, but also be able to get after the quarterback like I do.”
(Is there an offseason plan? You were a linebacker back in the day and then obviously – it’s skills that you have to re-learn. But is there like an offseason plan of how to do it?) – “I’ve got my schedule planned out basically to a tee in terms of where I’m going, where I’m going to be training, different things like that. There’s some different coaches I’m going to be working with during the offseason to try to just hone my craft. But ultimately I think a lot of the work also comes when you get back in pads, back in the flow of things and so now that I know what I need to work on, I think I can just really be hyper-critical of myself and make sure I’m doing everything I need to do to get right.”
(Congrats on the award. I wanted to ask you, you’re a young rookie player first year in the NFL, but you have a nice head on your shoulders. What helps you to keep that and keep helping the community?) – “I think I went through a lot and experienced a lot in my time at UCLA and transitioning over to Miami. So I think that’s really taught me a lot about how I want to carry myself and what impact I want to have on this world. So for me, just understanding that it’s way bigger than myself and it’s bigger than any on-the-field or off-the-field accomplishment I can do. I need to be able to make – I don’t want to say global impact – but just in regards of doing more than what’s necessary and just going out there and every day trying to better myself and the people around me.”
(Can I ask you a follow-up – of course you talk about the community in Miami but when players come here, usually some get involved, some don’t. Can you talk a little bit about that mentality you have of getting involved with the Miami community?) – “Yeah, I always knew that was important to me. People have their different priorities. I’m sure everybody wants to give back. Like everybody wants to do important things for their community and everything like that, but it’s just about – I’ve spent a lot of my off days doing community service. I’ve done extra time to be able to do these things and that’s just my personal – that’s what I want to accomplish. That’s what I want to do for myself and for others.”
