Carolina Panthers edge rusher Jaelan Phillips is getting paid to disrupt the quarterback. In 2026, he's aiming to turn those pressures into more sacks.
"The one thing I know about myself is I'm going to get after the quarterback," Phillips said Monday, via the team's official website. "I'm going to affect him. I'm going to get my hand in his face. I'm going to take the tackle back into him.
"I think for me, I'm excited about expanding my game and really getting that finishing aspect and turning a lot of the disruption into production."
Carolina signed Phillips to a four-year, $120 million contract in free agency. The $30-million per-year average places him eighth among edges.
Phillips generated just five sacks in 2025 with the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles, but had 63 quarterback pressures, 11th-most in the NFL, per Next Gen Stats. The 26-year-old has never earned double-digit sacks, with his career-high of 8.5 coming in his rookie campaign. He was on pace to blast past that figure in 2023, before a ruptured Achilles tendon short-circuited his season. In 2024, he played just four games before an ACL tear.
Phillips bounced back from the injuries, playing 17 games last season and proving he can disrupt offenses. In Ejiro Evero's defense, the pass rusher believes he can get to the quarterback at an even higher rate.
"I do want to get those sack numbers up," Phillips said Monday. "I've always known that I can be a 10-plus, 13-plus sack guy."
Phillips led the Eagles with 34 QB pressures after the Week 10 trade, tied for 12th-most to close the season.
As much as the new Panther knows pressure still equals production, he'd still like to stack more sacks.
"It's tough because I think naturally sacks are the flashy things," Phillips said. "Everybody talks about them, and even within my own head, it's hard not to just focus on sacks and be like, 'Oh damn, I don't have as many sacks.' And so I sometimes might not feel like I'm producing as much."
