“At the beginning of the year, I was letting pressure of coaches and players get to me,” Phillips told Seth Levit and OJ McDuffie on the team’s Fish Tank podcast. “I couldn’t deal with the roller coaster."

By midseason, Phillips began talking with “a confidence coach” — Ben Newman, who was brought to his attention by a Dolphins official. “He did a lot of work with Alabama; what he told me was that positive self talk,” Phillips said.

“It’s easy to get in your head about things and get trapped in a negative cycle. Talk to yourself positively. “Everyone has intrusive thoughts. But you aren’t your thoughts. I still talk to Ben every day, texts me positive messages, positive afformations.”

As an NFL rookie he realized “there’s pressure from coaches, teammates, friends, everyone. I had to manage my level of expectations. I can’t control how people are going to feel about my performance.” The key, he said, is “not being too high, not being too low. That was the biggest learning lesson to me.”