Dolphins star Jaelan Phillips opens up on his mental health early on this season

After the brutal year that he's had, it's safe to say that Miami Dolphins pass-rusher Jaelan Phillips has had to battle an unreal amount of adversity. Phillips was spectacular in 2023, but then he tore his Achilles and had to miss the rest of the campaign, including the Wild Card Round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Phillips has been pretty open about the mental challenges that have come with trying to work his way back from his serious injury. Following the Week 2 loss to the Bills, Phillips decided to take to social media to share that he's still fighting some problems with his self confidence and how he manages to bounce back from a rough performance. It took a lot of guts from the Miami standout.

Jaelan Phillips is working to improve physically and mentally for the Dolphins

You've got to give props to Phillips for his Instagram post, which fans can check out at this link. Sometimes it's easy to forget that these superstar athletes are human like the rest of us and they deal with ups and downs. For Phillips, it indeed has been a rough stretch for him, but he worked overtime in getting back on the field following his Achilles injury.

It was a shocker that he was able to get back in uniform so quickly, and he wasted no time in making a difference with a Week 1 sack for the Jaguars. He was fired up after that win and understandably so. In the Week 2 loss, however, the Dolphins played rough across the board and they suffered yet another disappointing defeat against the Bills.

The defense had no answers for Josh Allen and Co. With Phillips being a leader on defense, he put a lot of the blame on himself, which had a negative impact on his mental health. The rest of the way, though, the hope is Miami can showcase improvements on both sides of the ball, which will be needed with Tua Tagovailoa on Injured Reserve. As for Phillips, fans have been showering him with love and that won't stop soon. The team's failures on defense 100 percent are not on him.