Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Harrison Phillips remembers the exact moment he decided an NFL career would be in his future. He was on a plane heading back to California to begin his junior year at Stanford University and was looking for something to do during the flight.
Phillips, who grew up learning about God and the Bible, had just finished reading through the New Testament while recovering from a torn ACL. He flipped to the back of his Fellowship of Christian Athletes Bible to see what the devotional was for the day.
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The devotional focused on the exact passage he had been leaning on all offseason: James 1:2-4, which reads, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
“God was telling me, ‘I put you through this flame. I put you through this [and] your faith is stronger because of it,'” Phillips said recently while retelling the story on “The Conversation,” a podcast hosted by pastor Adam Weber in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “‘You kept the faith the whole way. I see a reflection of Myself in you.’ And at that moment, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, this football thing is what it’s gonna be. … He’s shown me too many times, and this is where He’s calling me right now.'”
Sure enough, he was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention as a junior and a third-team Associated Press All-American as a senior. The Buffalo Bills selected him with the 96th overall pick (third round) of the 2018 draft.
Phillips played in every game and recorded 35 total tackles as a rookie. He appeared in 45 games over four seasons in Buffalo before signing with the Vikings in 2022. The change in scenery resulted in a career year in 2022 and an even better one in 2023. Phillips recorded 92 total tackles and three sacks last season, easily the best numbers of his six-year career, while starting every game for the second year in a row.
After the season, Phillips thanked God in an Instagram post for the experiences he had and the ways the Lord had worked in his life.
“You are the maker of it all,” he wrote. “Thank you for health and production, thank you for this team which became a family. Thank you for all the things you’ve done and left undone. Thank you for the hope for our future success and the work we get to do to get there. Thank you for your son and the holy spirit that lives in us!”
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Phillips was raised in the Lutheran church and enjoyed going through confirmation so much that he completed the process in a year rather than the typical two or three. His faith really took off at Stanford, where he helped launch the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter on campus and relied on his faith when the ACL injury isolated him from football as well as his teammates.
As his relationship with the Lord has grown, Phillips has come to realize just how much of an impact it has on his life.
“Some of the most successful years in my life were always the years that I was attached closer to God. … When things are going good, there’s always this thing in the background, and that’s normally being rooted in the Word or being rooted in my relationship with Jesus,” he said on the podcast.
Last season, Phillips was the Vikings’ nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award — which recognizes the impact players make on the community — for his work with his organization, Harrison’s Playmakers. The nonprofit focuses on “coaching and mentoring children facing social, physical, and economic challenges,” including those with developmental differences.
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Through his involvement in multiple communities, Phillips wants to inspire people to focus on personal growth and positivity.
“I have the ability to frame this how I want to,” he said on the podcast while describing the message he shares. “I have the ability to choose a growth mindset. I have the ability to wake up each day and look at life with the glass half full and frame my own story, put a chip on my own shoulder.”
Minnesota faces the Las Vegas Raiders in its preseason opener on Aug. 10 and visits the New York Giants in its first regular-season game Sept. 8.
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