Jaelan Phillips leaves with what he says is bruise to leg. Receiver carted off
Dolphins edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, whose past two seasons ended prematurely with major injuries, left practice Saturday with what he described as a leg bruise.
He gave fans a thumbs up as he departed and later said on social media: “I just got leg whipped, ya’all. Just a bruise.”
Last season, he sustained a season-ending torn ACL in his right knee in Week 4, so there was momentary concern as doctors examined his knee following the injury in 11 on 11 drills.
Phillips stood on the sideline with his helmet in his hand for a while, trying to determine if he could jog without an issue. He seemed to determine that he could not jog comfortably and then walked to the opposite side of the field to meet with a team trainer, taking a seat on a team cooler, before walking under his own power into the team facility.
A trainer worked on his leg while it was stretched out, then worked on his left knee.
Phillips was walking with something of a limp but not a major limp.
Any injury with Phillips is a concern not only because of his importance to the team, but also because of the serious nature of past injuries. Phillips ruptured his Achilles tendon against the Jets on the day after Thanksgiving in 2023.
Last season, he sustained a season-ending ACL injury in the fourth game of the season against Tennessee.
Phillips played 17 games each of his first two seasons but was limited to eight games in 2023 and four games in 2024. He has 23 sacks and 25 tackles for loss in 46 career games.
Phillips is due to earn $13.3 million this season and is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent after the season.
On Saturday, Phillips was wearing the orange jersey bestowed on the top performer from the previous day’s practice. He began the day with a couple of impressive plays before sustaining the injury.
The Dolphins are counting on the Phillips/Bradley Chubb/Chop Robinson edge rusher troika to be one of the strengths of the team.
The Dolphins are 10-6 when Phillips and Chubb are on the field in the same game.
Besides Phillips, the Dolphins other edge rushers are Chubb, Robinson, Quinton Bell, Grayson Murphy, Mo Kamara and Cameron Goode.
Also Saturday, receiver Dee Eskridge grabbed his hamstring and was carted off.
Cornerback Cam Smith was wearing a compression sleeve on one of his legs and is out for an undetermined length of time.
Right tackle Austin Jackson will miss “weeks” with a lower extremity injury, per NFL Network, adding that he hopes to be back for the regular season opener Sept. 7 at the Colts. He wasn’t spotted at practice on Saturday.
This story was originally published August 2, 2025 at 10:58 AM.
