What Are Reasonable Rookie Expectations for Miami Dolphins DT Jordan Phillips?

The Miami Dolphins were not in desperate need of a defensive tackle entering the 2015 NFL draft—far from it. With the addition of prize free agent Ndamukong Suh, the Dolphins had already found one dominant interior defensive lineman. With Earl Mitchell already on the roster, they had their No. 2 to plug in next to Suh.

Due to the lack of need, the immediate rewards of the Dolphins' selection of defensive tackle Jordan Phillips may not be as great as the return on investment for some other second-round choices. But a little depth goes a long way in building a talented defensive line for years to come.

Even with both Suh and Mitchell in front of him on the depth chart, Phillips could find opportunities to contribute to his new team. Those opportunities may not be as plentiful as they would be for other second-round picks, but they will at least provide the framework for him to build a long career. 

But what are reasonable expectations for the rookie defensive tackle?

Player	Pos	Tk	Ast	Sk	PD	FF	FR
Ra'Shede Hageman	DT	12	4	1	0	0	0
Timmy Jernigan	DE	13	12	4	0	0	0
Ego Ferguson	DT	12	12	2	3	0	0
Kawann Short	DT	19	16	1.5	0	1	1
Johnathan Hankins	DT	9	7	0	0	0	0
Derek Wolfe	DE	26	14	6	2	0	0
Kendall Reyes	DE	17	12	5.5	1	0	0
Jerel Worthy	NT	11	3	2.5	0	1	0
Devon Still	DT	5	9	0.5	0	1	0
Jarvis Jenkins	DE	0	0	0	0	0	0
Marvin Austin	DT	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stephen Paea	DT	8	6	2	0	0	0

Thanks to a little detective work, we've put together a list of all the interior defensive linemen drafted in the second round from 2011-2014, complete with their rookie production. 

As you can see, none of the defensive tackles had particularly stellar rookie campaigns. In fact, none of them registered more than three sacks. There are various reasons for that. Most of them were not full-time starters in their first years. Derek Wolfe (Denver Broncos) and Kendall Reyes (San Diego Chargers) were the only ones to start four or more games in their first years in the league.

It's also important to point out the differences in scheme and positional designation. Wolfe and Reyes put up some solid sack totals as rookies, but their placement in 3-4 alignments may have helped their causes; those teams run more attack-oriented 3-4 schemes than other teams that run 3-4 formations. 

The Dolphins have run a 4-3 defense under Kevin Coyle. The 4-3 is ordinarily considered more aggressive than the 3-4, at least as far as the linemen are concerned, because the men up front are afforded more of an opportunity to rush upfield. As a result, it's not wild to expect that Phillips will get more opportunities to attack the backfield than other defensive tackles.

Even with those qualifiers, we can get a baseline for rookie production among second-round rookie defensive tackles. Not including Jarvis Jenkins (Washington Redskins) and Marvin Austin (New York Giants), who spent their rookie seasons on injured reserve, the average second-round interior lineman notched 13.2 tackles, 9.5 assists, 2.5 sacks, 0.6 batted passes, 0.3 forced fumbles and 0.1 fumble recoveries.

Let's not ignore the fact that Phillips spent his college career as a nose tackle in a 3-4 scheme, though. NFL.com's Lance Zierlein described the 6'5", 329-pound monster as "a dominant run-stuffer best suited for a 3-4 defense" with an "ability to eat up blocks" but "not effective as a pass-rusher."  

Keeping in mind the fact that Phillips is making a positional transition as well as the uphill battle he faces for playing time behind Mitchell and Suh and the general lack of elite production from rookies at his position, expectations should be kept reasonably low for Phillips in his first year. 

At least he appears to be among the front-runners for the top duties off the bench, per Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Phillips has no control over the production of rookies before him or the competition in front of him—unless he plans to outperform Mitchell and/or Suh on his way to a starting role in 2015. The only things he can control are how quickly he makes the transition from 3-4 nose tackle to 4-3 defensive tackle and how hard he works to make that transition.

There have been a lot of questions about Phillips' work ethic, and he even admitted that those questions came about by his own doing. Not surprisingly, he aims to put those questions to bed, per Surya Fernandez of FoxSportsFlorida.com:

"

[I need to] learn how to work. Having a motor like (Cameron) Wake, like (Ndamukong) Suh. That's what I really want to do. You've got to learn what they do, see their routine, try to take after them. Coming from Oklahoma and seeing how actual professionals work is going to be something new for me. ...

I should have worked harder. For people to not say that about me, that's just something I've got to change. That was a problem. It's something I've just got to work on and I feel like today I came out and worked really hard and I don't think it's going to be a problem. Things stay in the past.

"

It would be a surprise if he notched more than 12 tackles, nine assists and three sacks. Of course, an injury could open up some more opportunities for Phillips to play, but even with more playing time, he may not put up elite numbers in his rookie season.

After all, he's not considered an explosive pass-rusher and doesn't have the quick burst off the line of scrimmage that is ordinarily associated with disruptive interior linemen.