The Miami Dolphins recently signed a pass rusher who tore his Achilles in 2022 to help them survive the rehab period for a pass rusher who tore his Achilles in 2023. Veteran EDGE defender Shaq Barrett joined the Dolphins last week on a one-year free agent deal. Miami Dolphins LB Shaq Barrett’s Injury History Both Phillips and Chubb are at this point question marks for the start of training camp, and perhaps even the start of the regular season. But as Barrett’s 2022/2023 journey suggests, there’s reason for optimism that Phillips can play — and play pretty well — early in the 2024 season. While Barrett certainly regressed in 2023 after rupturing his Achilles the previous October, there’s reason to believe that his diminished play is more a reflection of his age (he turns 32 this November) than injury. Barrett not only made it back in time to play in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 2023 opener, he counterintuitively was the most effective early in the season. He recorded 4 of his 4.5 sacks and 17 of his 19 pressures in the season’s first 10 weeks. So while Barrett had a steep dropoff in both sacks per game (.3) and pressures per game (1.3) in 2023, it’s far from certain that it was all or mostly due to the significant injury. “It didn’t really bother me at all,” Barrett said earlier this week. “[Discomfort] was just from being in a boot. Like the top of my foot right here was what was bothering me a lot. So once that went down a little bit, and I started getting treatment on that, it started feeling a lot better. “But honestly, I thought throughout the whole year, I was like, ‘it feels good, it feels good.’ But it wasn’t until the end of the year when you’ve done football and you’re not doing anything for a week or so, you actually feel like, ‘Oh, it could feel better.’ “So it was still a little sore throughout the whole year, but I thought it was fine because I was feeling that throughout the whole year. But once I took a break, I did feel that it healed up a little bit more and it just felt better.” Barrett’s message to Phillips? “Just trust it, though, because after the months of being in that boot and that cast, it’s pretty much healed, so you’ve just got to start loosening it up. So start loosening it up and trusting in it as soon as you can once you get out of that, because it’s going to hold up. You don’t have to worry about it re-tearing, pulling, or anything. So just trust in it. When it’s time to go, just start going and believing that it’s going to hold up.” Phillips should presumably have an even faster and better rehab due to his far younger age (he doesn’t turn 25 until May) and his otherworldly conditioning. The only thing working against him? He tore his Achilles a month later in the season than Barrett did. Prior to his injury, Phillips was averaging .8 sacks and 2.1 pressures per game in 2023. If the Dolphins can get anything close to that from Barrett, his contract (one year, maximum of $9 million a year) will look like a steal. “I still got a lot to prove,” Barrett said. “Especially getting cut from another team. That adds another whole fuel to the fire right there. The Dolphins are going to be happy they signed me. Tampa is going to be mad they let me go because this year that I’m planning on having and the success that we’re about to have as a team is going to be amazing.”
Everybody recovers differently from injuries. With that being said, returning from a rehabbed Achilles tendon to play at a high level is no longer rare. I expect Phillips to have his best season this year and for about 5 members of this forum to complain that we're stupid to resign/exercise our option on him. Unless we don't, in which case they'll complain that we didn't.
I'd still have discussions with him in June/July to see how much an extension would cost. Miami will have the cap space with the X cut and the Tua extension and maybe you can get Phillips cheaper since he's coming off an injury.
They could exercise his 5th year option. It's projected at $14.6 million for 2025. It might be worth it to see if he heals and plays well. Deadline is May 2. An extension, even discounted for injury, would undoubtedly cost more and it would buy us time.
I won't say anything, UNLESS our season is again derailed by injuries, and Grier is AGAIN given a pass because "you can't predict injuries." My only complaint with this is AGAIN it sounds like we are bringing this guy in to start and depend on. What's the plan if he goes down. I think that's a legitimate question.
No arguments from me. But d*mn if last season was the worst year for injuries that I've seen. We must have lost 40% of our roster over the sesason and entered the playoffs with ~30% unavailable. That's inexplicable, IMO, and I've been watching football for more than 50 years. With that being said, I expect our injuries will regress toward the mean this season and if we can field a solid roster at the beginning, we should be good at the end. Well, at least I hope that's the case.
Good news on Phillips: https://www.thephinsider.com/2024/4...er-jaelan-phillips-definitely-back-for-week-1
I don’t understand the meaning of your post. I think all starting caliber players are depended on to start. Why is Shaq any different? He played every game last season. I’ve asked this before, and of course received nothing but silence in return, but what NFL starters have never suffered an injury of some sort? As for predicting injuries, do you think anyone knows when a player will get hurt? If there is such a person they could make millions in the NFL. But there’s not, so all players, at any time, can be injured. Claiming Grier was given a pass because players were injured isn’t true. There’s no reason to give Grier a pass for those because he can’t predict or control injuries. A starting caliber player such as Shaq will get signed by an NFL team because they are a starting caliber player. It’s that simple. Imagine if the Pats had gotten rid of Brady after his ACL. Or if the Dolphins traded Marino after his Achilles. The list is miles long of great players that have been injured at some point because all players get hurt. Would bringing in Brees have been horrible due to his shoulder issue? Lol
