It is often a joke in the media during the summer and early in training camp that NFL players are ‘in the best shape of their lives,’ ‘cut 10+ pounds of bad weight’ and ‘worked all offseason for this all-important season coming up’. Mostly, players work hard every offseason with a little extra emphasis when they are playing for a new contract.
For the Cleveland Browns, a lot could have been missed in the distractions that were the acquisition of Deshaun Watson, the delayed trade of Baker Mayfield and the possibility of discipline for their newest quarterback.
We even had the return of Hue Jackson drama surrounding his time with the team this offseason.
One player who could be entering a make-or-break type of season is LB Jacob Phillips. A third-round pick in 2020, the LSU standout has struggled with injuries. In two seasons, Phillips has only played in 13 games for Cleveland.
Based on these photos, he’s ‘in the best shape of his life,’ ‘cut some bad weight’ and ‘worked all offseason for this all-important season coming up:’
I locked in with tunnel vision just perfecting the craft pic.twitter.com/OtetgcIN83
— JP (@jacobphillips_1) July 13, 2022
Behind starters Anthony Walker Jr. and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Phillips will have to make an impact on special teams and when called upon on defense. Going into his third season, Phillips needs to prove he can stay healthy and be impactful.
Phillips showed off his speed tracking down Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson during his rookie season:
During my post-draft clip thread on him, I belive I said that Jacob Phillips wouldn’t be able to keep up with Lamar Jackson.
So here is Jacob Phillips keeping up with Lamar Jackson. pic.twitter.com/qZm58SEzAc
— Sam Penix (@Sam_Penix) September 17, 2020
Phillips has a chance to be an important player for Cleveland and looks to be in great shape going into the season but health will decide his impact moving forward.