Miami Dolphins select Ocoee High alum Jordan Phillips in NFL Draft

The former Knights and Maryland Terripans star defensive lineman was selected in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

By Sam Albuquerque
| 8:30 p.m. April 26, 2025

Sports

With the 143rd overall pick in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins selected former Ocoee High football standout Jordan Phillips.

The 6-foot-3, 320-pound interior defensive lineman was a star for the Knights' defensive front, racking up 143 total tackles, 45 tackles for a loss and 17.5 sacks in his three seasons at Ocoee.

As a three-star prospect and the No. 47-ranked DT in the country, Phillips signed with the Tennessee Volunteers but transferred to Maryland after his freshman season, appearing in just three games in 2022 for Tennessee. During his two seasons in College Park, he played in all 25 of the Terrapins' games and recorded 57 total tackles and 2.5 TFLs.

Combined with his production, size and incredible strength, Phillips showed enough to convince the Dolphins decision-makers to select Phillips in the fifth round — making him the first Maryland defensive lineman drafted since 2019.

Phillips joins a Dolphins team that went 8-9 last season and a defensive front led by veteran Zach Sieler, who led Miami with 10 sacks and 13 TFLs in 2024, and the team's 2025 first-round draft selection, Kenneth Grant from Michigan.

author

Sam Albuquerque

A native of João Pessoa, Brazil, Sam Albuquerque moved in 1997 to Central Florida as a kid. After earning a communications degree in 2016 from the University of Central Florida, he started his career covering sports as a producer for a local radio station, ESPN 580 Orlando. He went on to earn a master’s degree in editorial journalism from Northwestern University, before moving to South Carolina to cover local sports for the USA Today Network’s Spartanburg Herald-Journal. When he’s not working, you can find him spending time with his lovely wife, Sarah, newborn son, Noah, and dog named Skulí.