Jets' defensive tackle Harrison Phillips debuts on practice field
Harrison Phillips, 97, during New York Jets practice on Monday. Credit: Ed Murray
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Standing in the Jets locker room, Harrison Phillips said one of his goals when he faced this team last year in London as a defensive tackle for the Vikings was to sack Aaron Rodgers.
“Did that,” he said with a subtle but proud little fist pump, not wanting to rankle anyone who might remember one of the fourth quarter plays that helped Minnesota beat the Jets that day.
He’ll be trying to get after Rodgers again very soon, this time not against the Jets but as one of them. If he does that he can fist-bump everyone and crow about it as much as he likes.
Phillips went through his first day of meetings and practice on Monday after being traded from Minnesota to New York last Wednesday. He and fellow defensive tackle Jowon Briggs, also acquired via trade on the same day but from the Browns, were both making their debuts on the field in their new uniforms less than two weeks before the Jets open their regular season against Rodgers and the Steelers at MetLife Stadium.
While the last few days of their lives have been tumbling in a clothes dryer — neither of them was expecting to leave their former teams they said — they can now begin to settle in to a new home and get down to the job they have been brought here to accomplish.
“Add my little spice to the defensive line,” Briggs said of that task. “Make a great thing a little greater.”
Between landing Phillips and Briggs and then trading Derrick Nnadi to Kansas City this weekend, the Jets have shuffled roughly half a ton of players in an attempt to improve that second defensive tackle spot as the wingman for Pro Bowler Quinnen Williams.
Briggs, a second-year player and a seventh-round pick in Cleveland last spring, will add depth up front. Phillips, coming into his eighth season and now with his third team, figures to be a starter beside Williams and with former first-round picks Jermaine Johnson and Will McDonald IV on the outside.
Williams approved of the deal (and not just because Phillips referred to him as “Mr. Williams” in his media availability).
“I’ve been a fan of his for a minute, the things he did in Buffalo and the things he did with the Vikings,” Williams said. “I was super excited to bring him in to teach us some things, teach me some things, and help the defense be what we know we can be.”
Coach Aaron Glenn said both players “fit who we are” in terms of their demeanor and physicality. He also said he tried to get the Lions to sign Phillips as a free agent when Glenn was the defensive coordinator in Detroit but the player landed with the Vikings.
The two seem to like Glenn, too. Phillips said he was excited to play for a head coach with a defensive background. And as Briggs said: “[Glenn] understands what he’s doing because, you know, I’m here!”
Phillips said he knew a little bit about the Jets from his days in the AFC East with the Bills but hadn’t paid much attention to the division since leaving before the 2022 season. When he learned he was coming here, though, he received a quick but encouraging scouting report on the Jets from an unlikely source.
“[Vikings coach] Kevin O’Connell, when he told me I was being traded, kind of talked up what is happening here and gave me a little better understanding,” Phillips said. “You can feel the optimism among the players, the staff, the new wave of people coming in here. There was initial shock but once I got to decipher and peel back the layers of the onion I was like ‘This is going to be a great opportunity.’
“The arrow is pointing up here,” he added
If he can sack Aaron Rodgers again on Sept. 7, it’ll stay that way.
Notes & quotes: Glenn said he expects many of the players who ended the preseason with injuries to be ready for the Week 1 game including CB Sauce Gardner (calf/knee), WR Allen Lazard (shoulder), backup QB Tyrod Taylor (knee) and RB Isaiah Davis (ankle). Of the four, though, only Davis was spotted practicing on Monday . . . Starting G John Simpson was not seen at practice . . . Glenn said the Jets will spend this week in “camp mode” focusing on their own play rather than begin preparation for the Steelers . . . The Jets and all NFL teams must trim their active roster to 53 players by 4 p.m. Tuesday. Glenn said there are still some “tough decisions” to make. “But you know what,” he added, “I'd rather be in that position than when they're not tough.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
More Jets
