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Cleveland Browns: 3 goals for Jacob Phillips’ rookie season

By Dan Gilinsky

NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 13: Linebacker Jacob Phillips #6 of the LSU Tigers celebrates after making a tackle during the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Clemson Tigers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. LSU defeated Clemson 42 to 25. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 13: Linebacker Jacob Phillips #6 of the LSU Tigers celebrates after making a tackle during the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Clemson Tigers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. LSU defeated Clemson 42 to 25. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images) /
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NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 13: Linebacker Jacob Phillips #6 of the LSU Tigers during the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Clemson Tigers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. LSU defeated Clemson 42 to 25. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images) /

Phillips’ No. 2 goal for the Cleveland Browns: Having the unit’s lowest missed tackle rate

Jacob Phillips, as was mentioned, led the SEC in tackles last season, and did so on a really talented LSU defense.

What was more impressive from Phillips, though, was that he was making the stops on not a boatload of chances, if you will. That was with the Tigers’ defense being so sound, as DPD’s Elliot Kennel emphasized, and these weren’t empty tackles.

Along those lines, as was documented by Pro Football Focus, Phillips had just three missed tackles in 2019 on 88 attempts, making him college football’s best tackler last season.

Considering that, the second goal for Phillips’ rookie season for the Cleveland Browns is him having the lowest missed tackle rate among the Brown and Oranges’ linebacking corps.

Now, that’s not suggesting Phillips should be able to replicate that missed tackle rate of 3.4 percent, as that 2019 one was for LSU, but this goal for him among Cleveland’s linebackers doesn’t seem far-fetched.

With Phillips even mostly a run-down defender for the Browns this season, and maybe mixing in with some special teams reps for him, him having the lowest missed tackle rate among the Browns’ linebackers would show great potential. That again, seems attainable even with Phillips being just a rookie, too, with his encouraging tackling technique and assignment-sound style.

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