The Patriots have signed veteran strong safety Adrian Phillips to a three year, $12.75 million dollar extension. The deal has a max value of $14.25M with $7.25 million guaranteed

Phillips signed with the Patriots as a free agent in the spring of 2020. In his two years with the team, Phillips has emerged as an integral part of the defense and is one of the team’s best defensive players.

The Patriots play a lot of three safety looks with Phillips, Kyle Duggar and Devin McCourty. Phillips is the key to this personnel grouping because he can play in all three levels. He is a run stopper, effective blizter and he can cover. He is the most versatile player on the roster and that is why Belichick opted to re-sign him.

After Patrick Chung retired, most people around the organization thought that Duggar would fill his role on the Patriots defense. Instead, it’s been Phillips who has proven to be a more versatile player.

Spotrac projected a market value of $9.7M AAV for Phillips. If that truly is his value, then the Patriots got one hell of a home town discount on this new deal. It is obvious he want to be here and took less money to get it done.

It is a win, win for both Phillips and the Patriots. It one less player Bill Belichick has to worry about this off-season.