Roman Phifer

Roman Zubinsky Phifer (born March 5, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL).

Known primarily as a member of the New England Patriots, Phifer is currently the Senior Personnel Executive for the Denver Broncos.

Phifer also played for the Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams, the New York Jets, and the New York Giants.

He played in 211 NFL games and made 1134 tackles, 882 were solo, 252 assisted, 29 sacks, and 11 interceptions and was a four-time Pro Bowl Alternate.

Phifer played football and majored in history at the University of California Los Angeles and is a graduate of South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Phifer was a two-time All-Conference selection, earning All-County and Charlotte Post Athlete of the Year honors as a senior at South Mecklenburg.

He was a three-year letterman in football and basketball and also competed in track and field in the high jump (6′6″) and triple jump (44′8″).

As a senior at UCLA, Phifer totaled 71 tackles (9 for a loss) 3 interceptions and 3 sacks and was named an honorable mention All-America.

He redshirted his freshman year of 1986.

Pre-draft measurables

Phifer was 6'2" and 230 pounds and bench pressed 380 pounds and ran a 4.73 forty-yard dash. Scouts said, "An underrated outside linebacker who came on strong his senior year.

Very good open field tackler with legitimate speed and cover ability, Uses his quickness in rushing the passer."

As a Sophomore in 1987 he recorded 27 tackles, including one for a loss.

Their prior year, 1988, Phifer was primarily a special teams player, recorded 14 tackles (seven unassisted) on defense.

He missed the 1989 season due to an off-field beating incident along with teammate Damion Lyons.

He was drafted in the 2nd round (31st overall pick) in the 1991 NFL Draft by the Rams out of UCLA.

While at UCLA one of his roommates was the late Eric Turner.

On July 17, 1991, Phifer signed a 3-year $1.5 million contract with the Rams, including a $450,000 signing bonus.

He started as a rookie in 1991 until an ankle injury ended his season.

He totaled 24 tackles on the season (21 solo).

Phifer was a starter for the Rams from 1992–1998.

In 1992 Phifer made 66 tackles (51 solo) and defensed six passes.

Phifer led the Rams in tackles in 1993 from his "Will'" or outside linebacker position.

In the summer of 1994 the restricted free agent Phifer signed a tender-offer of $649,000.

However, since Phifer and his agent felt there were no negotiations he was reluctant to sign a further deal.

Phifer had another solid season in 1994.

However, during the confusion of the Rams moving from Los Angeles to St. Louis, Phifer signed a four-year, $8.5 million contract that includes a $2.5 million signing bonus.

He was the Rams' Ed Block Courage Award winner in 1995.

He was also a Pro Bowl alternate in 1995 and led the Rams in tackles 1995 with 125 to go with his 3 sacks, 3 interceptions a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

In 1995 that changed with a new defensive coordinator who introduced the Rams "Jet" defense, where the lineman were in pass rush mode at all times.

A couple of years later he began to play in Bud Carson's multiple defenses where Roman was asked to rush the passer more.

In the "Jet" defense he was often the only LBer on the field and was asked to cover running backs in coverage and still stop running plays.

It was under Carson's defense that Phifer would play the equivalent of a safety on one play and the equivalent of defensive end on another play and a run-stuffing linebacker on another and a pass-cover linebacker as yet a fourth way to play defense.

He again led Rams tackles in 1996 with 122, when he was again voted a Pro Bowl alternate.

In his years with the Rams he played under several different defensive coordinators.

Under his first coach the Rams featured the Chicago Bears-style "46" defense that was brought in by recent Tennessee Titans Head coach Jeff Fisher.

The next season it changed to a less pressure defense to more of a standard NFL defenses.

In 1998, he had a career-high 6.5 sacks and 71 tackles with an interception a forced fumble and a fumble recovery on an improving Rams defense, with his career high in sacks being the result of playing standup defensive end some of the snaps.

The Rams stated they wanted to keep Phifer but reportedly acted too slow to sign Phifer and on March 6, 1999, he signed a 3-year $8.9 million contract with the New York Jets.

Less than six days later the Rams signed Patriot linebacker Todd Collins to replace Phifer.