Jaelan Phillips was pulled from Monday’s game with a knee injury. How bad is the injury?

The injury bug has officially bitten the Miami Dolphins.

Jaelan Phillips suffered a right knee injury late in the third quarter of Monday’s 31-12 loss to the Tennessee Titans and was ruled out for the remaining of the game. This comes nearly two months after the Dolphins activated Phillips who ruptured his right Achilles in late Nov. 2023.

The severity of the injury is unknown but coach Mike McDaniel mentioned that Phillips left the stadium in a knee brace.

“I don’t know much,” McDaniel said Monday evening. “I know he had a brace, but beyond that I’m going to have to find out more tomorrow.”

Phillips initially limped off the field after an unclear injury in the second quarter but was able to return a short time later. Towards the end of the third quarter, the star outside linebacker again got up limping but was instead taken to the locker room before the Dolphins subsequently ruled him out.

In the locker room, players couldn’t help but express their sadness for Phillips.

“I’m praying for Jaelan,” Emmanuel Ogbah said. “That’s my dawg. That’s like my little brother. I’m just praying everything is good with him because I know how hard he fought to comeback from the Achilles. My heart goes out to him.”

“It sucks,” Calais Campbell said. “Injuries are the worst part of the game. I saw the play. It happens. It’s football. It is what it is. It’s frustrating. Wishing him a speedy recovery and we’ll get him back when we get him back.”

The Dolphins defense was already reeling without its leading tackler in linebacker David Long Jr. and starting cornerback Kendall Fuller, both of whom were ruled out just before kickoff. Even worse: Pro Bowl outside linebacker Bradley Chubb still remains out as he recovers from a torn ACL. But the loss of Phillips, less than six months after the Dolphins exercised his fifth year option, is huge considering how hard the 2021 NFL Draft pick worked to get back.

“It’s just taught me a lot of patience,” Phillips said of the recovery in mid-August. “Your body is going to be ready when your body is ready, so I’ve just been doing everything humanly possible to give my body what it needs and take the time to get after it. I have such a good training staff here and such a good strength staff, and we’ve been working our asses off for eight and a half months now. I just, like I said, feel very fortunate to be back out here doing what I love again.”

If Phillips misses any time, rookie Chop Robinson and journeyman Quinton Bell will likely get some extra run. Robinson has flashed great potential as a pass rusher — he certainly turned heads at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers joint practice — but needs to improve as run stopper.

Robinson has “grown a lot just because we ask a lot from edge defenders in our defense,” coach Mike McDaniel said in early September. Specifically, the former Penn State edge rusher has learned “how to play the game within the game” and improved his “situational awareness.”

“He doesn’t waste a day out on the field, which is good news for us because we’re counting on him to contribute,” McDaniel added. “That’s the great thing about Chop: he attacks each practice the way a veteran would as if you’re trying to get something out of it. ”

Bell, on the other hand, is more so of an unknown. A receiver who made the switch to linebacker at Prarie View A&M, Bell was one of the surprise additions to the 53-man roster after an impressive training camp. The 2019 seventh round pick has bounced around the league — he’s been waived six times as well as promoted and demoted from practice squads another 24 — but has seemingly found a home with the Dolphins.

“The number one thing [with Bell] is his mindset,” outside linebackers coach Ryan Crow said. “He attacks everything 100 miles per hour and does it the right way. He is a hungry player. When you look at how the players respond to him, you see a great player that flies around and tries to do everything he can to help the defense.”

With the loss of Phillips, the Dolphins have now lost at least one key contributor in each of their last three games. Tua Tagovailoa went down with a concussion during the Week 2 matchup against the Buffalo Bills. In Week 3, both Fuller and All-Pro tackle Terron Armstead also suffered concussions that forced them out of the game early.