Free-Agent Signing Adrian Phillips Has Given New England Patriots A Reliable Charge

Anthony Lynn isn’t surprised. Neither is Bill Belichick.

When it comes to former Los Angeles Charger and current New England Patriot Adrian Phillips, both head coaches have seen the reliable body of work.

Both will again Sunday as the safety-in-title revisits the organization he entered the NFL with as an undrafted free agent.

“He’s a young man with a lot of versatility,” Lynn, who spent the past three years alongside Phillips, said on a Thursday conference call with reporters. “You can use them a lot of different ways and put him in a lot of different positions and he’s going to figure it out. So, I see him doing exactly that right now.”

“The good thing about Adrian is he’s very adaptable,” Belichick added this week. “He is versatile and he can turn the page from one game to the next in how he has to alter his playing style or read progression, or even sometimes the responsibility of how we handle a particular problem.”

Dating back to the 2014 regular season, Phillips appeared in 64 games as a Charger. Those games spanned from San Diego to Los Angeles and included 24 starts and 251 tackles.

The University of Texas product played in the middle, in the seams and in the deep half. He recorded a handful of interceptions, a pair of forced fumbles and a full-time role in the kicking game that gave way to Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors.

It fit New England’s mold in March.

The Patriots reached agreement with Phillips on a two-year, $6 million contract that carried a $1.5 million signing bonus and $3 million in guarantees. With it came $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses and $750,000 in available incentives for each year of his pact.

OverTheCap.com ranks his current cap number 15th on the New England roster.

“You never want to lose a player like Adrian,” Lynn said. “But in free agency, every year a team is going to turn over a third of the roster and sometimes you just can’t keep everyone and he just happened to fall into that category.”

Phillips, now 28, has since started all 11 games for a Patriots defense that’s been subject to its own turnover.

The veteran arrival leads the unit with 72 tackles. He is tied for second in picks, getting one against Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick in the opener and another last Sunday against MVP candidate Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals.

And his 528 snaps played sit third behind only cornerback J.C. Jackson and captain Devin McCourty.

But a share of the volume remains on special teams as it did with the Chargers. Phillips has taken the field for kickoff and punt coverage as well as kickoff and punt returns with the Patriots.

“Adrian showed a lot of value as a special-teams player as well as in multiple defensive roles that he played out there, and he’s been able to do that for us here,” Belichick told reporters. “So, anytime you put them into a different system, you never know exactly how that’s going to work out. But Adrian is a smart player, he’s very instinctive and he works extremely hard at football. Football’s important to him. He’s got a good football background from his playing career in Texas and with the Chargers. Again, you can see him do multiple things on the field and do them well.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Phillips has surpassed the century mark in snaps at edge spots for the Patriots this campaign. And at a listed 5-foot-11 and 210 pounds, he’s surpassed 300 downs in the linebacker box while also working at positions ranging from free safety to slot corner.

The Chargers will cross paths with Phillips in more places than one Sunday afternoon at SoFi Stadium.

“Adrian is a really good football player,” added Lynn. “We miss him dearly. It didn’t surprise me at all that he would go somewhere and start and help a football team out. His intangibles are just as good as his leadership and talent.”

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