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The New York Giants have come to terms with veteran defensive tackle Jordan Phillips ahead of the NFL draft, shoring up the trenches once again.
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport was the first to report on April 11, relaying: “The Giants are signing veteran free agent DT Jordan Phillips today, source said. The former [Buffalo] Bills DT has some familiar faces in the NYG building. A deal in the works for some time, NYG adds a key piece to their D-line prior to the draft.”
Phillips is entering his 10th NFL season and has become a true journeyman since being selected by the Miami Dolphins in round two of the 2015 draft. Along with two separate stints in Buffalo, the 6-foot-6 lineman has also spent some time with the Arizona Cardinals.
He has started 62 career outings in the NFL and has appeared in 120 total. Registering 24.0 sacks, 36 tackles for a loss and 51 QB hits according to Pro Football Reference.
A year ago, Phillips logged 2.5 sacks and two tackles for a loss for the Bills over 14 appearances (nine starts). He also batted down five passes at the line of scrimmage, with 15 total tackles and five QB hits.
Giants’ Jordan Phillips Signing Replaces A’Shawn Robinson
Phillips adds experience to this defensive line rotation, but he also provides some versatility. In 2023, the veteran lined up in the “B-Gap” 231 times, while also lining up over the tackle 124 times and playing the role of nose tackle 23 times (per Pro Football Focus).
Phillips even lined up outside the tackle as an edge rusher 12 times with Buffalo last year, showing his positional flexibility. And after seeing A’Shawn Robinson walk in free agency, that should prove valuable.
Behind star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, the Giants now have Phillips, Rakeem Nunez-Roches, D.J. Davidson and Jordon Riley competing for snaps on the interior, among others, with edge rushers Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux flanking them.
Needless to say, this looks to be a very formidable unit heading into the summer. On paper, it is the clear strength of this Big Blue defense, and perhaps, the entire roster.
Jordan Phillips Has Struggled With Missed Tackles & Run Defense Throughout Career
Diving deeper into this signing, Phillips isn’t the perfect player. He should be seen as a rotational cog on the defensive line and will hopefully be helped by having Lawrence and company around him.
Phillips’ major deficiencies as a defender appear to be his reliability as a tackler and his run defense.
PFF has credited him with a career-worst 36.8% missed tackle rate in 2023, but his career missed tackle rate isn’t great either at 19.6%. In total, Phillips was charged with seven missed tackles compared to nine key defensive stops on the year.
The vet D-tackle also received a grade of 30.0 out of 100 in run defense, which is poor. He allowed 4.1 yards per carry as his average depth of tackle, a high number for his position, and held an average stop rate of 4.4%.
Phillips has obviously been better as an interior pass rusher both throughout his career and as he’s gotten older (turned 31 in September), with 19 quarterback pressures over each of the past two campaigns. That’s where his impact will likely be felt with the G-Men, playing mostly on pass-rushing snaps.
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