Born to Be a Nose Tackle

Phillips made it clear he prioritizes doing his job correctly, which often involves freeing up linebackers to make plays. Hicks is expected to join Eric Kendricks as inside linebackers with the Vikings transitioning to more 3-4 principles this season.

“Super excited that [Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell] saw the value in me. Obviously the player and, [O’Connell] mentioned it, not a lot of nose guards get a lot of pub out there,” Phillips said. “I like to call my position the fire hydrant at the dog show. You know, you’ve got a role. You’re the guy who’s going to get pissed on, but hey – you’ve got a role, and you’ve got to do that to the best of your ability.

“I saw we signed Jordan, and I got his number, shot him a text, said, ‘Hey, my job is to keep you clean. I’m gonna get you to some Pro Bowls, but you’re gonna have to miss ’em because we’re gonna be still playing on,’ you know? But I’m super excited, so humbled to be here,” Phillips added.

When on his football journey did he adopt the mentality of a nose guard?

“Well I think I signed up for when I was born at like 11 pounds, probably,” Phillips quipped. “When you’re young and you’re the biggest guy on the field, you can just go all over. But I think it actually wasn’t until Stanford that I realized like, ‘Hey, we’re competing for a national championship, Pac-12 titles, big-time football games, and if I swing out of my gap one time to try to go make a play, these all-conference running backs can [make] one cut and gash you for a touchdown.

“Being right in the middle of the defense, I’m the closest person to the ball every snap. And there’s a lot of responsibility,” Phillips added. “[I have to] be disciplined and say, ‘Hey, I know this is my job. I know the ball is going over there, but I have to maintain this gap in case of a cutback like that. You’re not going to get glorified or a pat on the back for that, but that’s team defense and that’s how you finish.”

But wait, were you really 11 pounds?

“I think just under it, but I broke the record for length at Clarkson Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska — either 24 or 26 inches. I was a C-section, so thank you, Mom.”

Phillips said his mother is nicknamed “The Purple Lady” and loves the color. She also provided his nickname, “Horrible Harry.”

“Horrible Harry came actually in elementary school but didn’t really get real talked about until college,” Phillips said. “My mom used to read me Horrible Harry children’s books, like Junie B. Jones books or whatever, and it really stuck when there was a book about Horrible Harry at recess got a snake and brought it into school. I actually [had] done that two years prior when I was kindergarten. I found a snake at a recess, brought it into the school and [was] just being a naughty little kid. And so it stuck there.

“Then at high school — we’re from Omaha, Nebraska, so small-towny feel, everybody knows everybody. I think my mom shared that story with someone who ended up being the PA announcer at our games. So, ‘Horrible Harry on the tackle. Horrible Harry on the sack,’ ” Phillips continued. “And then it got to college and the announcers there and now in the NFL. When Twitter came out, I think I just went out and made the caption because it was already going at that point, but that’s only my on-the-field mantra. I’m not a bad man, but sometimes I have to do what a bad man might do but that’s only on the white lines right?”

Phillips, in fact, was nominated by the Bills in each of the past two seasons for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award and in 2020 was nominated for the NFLPA Alan Page award for his work in the community.