NFL Hall of Famer Gil Brandt rolled through every team in the league as picked one of their pending free agents that he thought the team has to keep around.
The Buffalo Bills don’t have many big-time free agents readying to hit the market, thankfully.
However, Brandt still believes that defensive tackle Harrison Phillips is a guy that the Bills have to try their best to hang onto.
Here’s his breakdown on Phillips via NFL.com:
Despite dealing with a knee injury, Phillips put up his strongest year as a pro, earning the fifth-highest defensive grade on the team from PFF. He also tied for second among Bills players with 13 run stuffs, per Next Gen Stats, and he managed double-digit pressures (18), second-most among interior Buffalo linemen. The 26-year-old could anchor the defensive front in Western New York for years to come.
Long at last, Phillips finally started to breakout in 2021.
After being selected in the third round of the 2018 NFL draft, folks in Buffalo immediately started to compare Phillips to another Bills legend: Kyle Williams. Unfortunately a series of injuries kept Phillips on the sideline and he never reached those levels… until 2021.
Phillips was a strong force in the middle of Buffalo’s defensive line next to Ed Oliver. Star Lotulelei missed time due to injury, forcing the Bills to start Phillips. However, once Lotulelei returned, Phillips stuck in his starting spot.
For context, we have Pro Football Focus. Defensive tackles don’t put up the big numbers on the stat sheet, so PFF provides some insight.
Phillips was Buffalo’s best interior defender in 2021, per the analytics outlet. His mark of 75.2 slotted Phillips in as a the 15th best defensive tackle in the NFL last season. Ed Oliver was just behind him at No. 23.
Considering their ages, both Phillips and Oliver can continuing climbing this ranking. The Bills should do everything they can to get Phillips under contract as Brandt suggests, and Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane already expressed his desire to do so.