Fletcher Cox is Ready for a Bounce-Back Year

The veteran DT seems to have a chip on his shoulder

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles still have one of their all-time best defenders and are paying him $14 million in 2022 but many in the team's fan base would rather see lesser proven players like Javon Hargrave, Milton Williams, and rookie Jordan Davis.

It's an interesting sentiment spawned by a host of factors, including an over-leveraged rebooted contract, Cox's former dominance, and the somewhat dubious thought that Cox played poorly last season.

What's even stranger is that Cox himself will play into the latter perception at times, a nod to the time he was in the conversation of the best defensive tackle in the world not named Aaron Donald.

"Obviously, it wasn't one of the best years of my career," Cox admitted following Wednesday's first training camp practice. "Down year for me. I could have better in a lot of ways."

Cox's self-critique, however, stems from his own standard

In his "down year," he was still graded ahead of Hargrave and in a different zip code than then rookie Milton Williams by Pro Football Focus.

Cox, though, is used to being graded as a top-10 DT, something that's happened five consecutive times from 2015 to 2019.

Last season Cox was No. 29 of 109, per PFF, still a top-tier player just not where he once was.

There is something to the thought that it's better to give up on a player a year early than a year late but Cox still has gas in the tank and having him around while Williams hopefully finishes his start-up costs and Davis begins his own is prudent business.

Especially when Cox himself seems to have a chip on his massive shoulder.

Things started slowly for Cox at the start of training camp on Wednesday when he was limited to individual work as he continues to progress from a bout with COVID.

"I got pretty sick about a week and a half ago, two weeks," Cox said. "Just taking the steps to getting me back to where I was. Just being smart about it, working me in. I'm starting to feel a lot better than I did this time last week, so that's a good sign."

Having a veteran who has seen the highs and lows, everything from Super Bowl LII to the ugly 2020 season also isn't the worst thing for a team with raised expectations.

"It's always big expectations," Cox said. "When you play in the City of Philly, every year the expectations are the same. They want you to win."

And Eagles fans should understand by now that winning is usually easier with Fletcher Cox.

"I know I'll be better," Cox said. "Second year of this defense, I know what to expect. I know what's going on. I'll be ready."

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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Sports. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talker Jody McDonald, every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com and JAKIBSports.com. You can reach John at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen