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Miami Dolphins slowly bringing back rookie Jaelan Phillips from injury

Jaelan Phillips Miami Dolphins

It sounds like the Miami Dolphins are going to be very careful with rookie Jaelan Phillips as he recovers from an injury.

“He’s just not ready yet, hasn’t had enough snaps,” Dolphins head coach Brian Flores said recently. “That’s generally how teams do it. Hopefully we’ll build off of [Wednesday’s practice, when he took some snaps] and ramp him up over the course of days, weeks, etc.”

Phillips dealt with several injuries during his time at the collegiate level. He even called it quits on his playing career at one point. Between his time at University of California, Los Angeles and University of Miami, he suffered three concussions.

It also sounds like the team wants to use him in a variety of ways, according to Dolphins defensive coordinator Josh Boyer.

“We’d like to get him out there and see as many things as we can,” said Boyer. “If he can do a couple things that are end-type responsibility and do a couple things that are backer-type responsibility – it allows us to be multiple. You don’t necessarily know where guys are going to line up play after play after play.”

Over his three collegiate seasons, Phillips had 86 total tackles and 12.5 sacks. He also racked up five passes defended and one interception. He has a very high ceiling at the NFL level.

The Dolphins felt strongly enough about Phillips to use a first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft on him, so the organization clearly has high hopes for his future. Time will tell how everything plays out for all involved parties.

Miami is hoping to crack the NFL postseason in the 2021 season after narrowly missing out in the 2020 campaign.