Report: Teams continue to call Eagles about Fletcher Cox trade

Philadelphia’s six-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle might be on the move.

The Philadelphia Eagles are receiving calls about a potential Fletcher Cox trade, according to a report from NFL Network.

This report reads like the Eagles are trying to drum up a market for him. To be determined if that approach will work.

We touched on the possibility of the Eagles trading Cox in our defensive tackle position outlook article earlier this week. Here’s what we wrote:

REVIEW: Entering the 2021 season, arguments were being made for the Eagles to trade Cox. Despite this, Howie Roseman doubled down on the veteran defender by rather unwisely restructuring his contract to create more cap space in the short-term. Cox got off to a slow start last year while openly conveying that he wasn’t exactly thrilled with his role in Jonathan Gannon’s defense. There was talk of the Eagles “aggressively shopping” Cox ahead of last year’s NFL trade deadline but the restructure basically left Philly stuck with his contract. Cox did have some good moments down the stretch in 2021 but he was hardly the vintage version of himself. He ultimately posted the second-lowest sack total of his career and missed making the Pro Bowl for the first time since 2014.

OUTLOOK: The mechanics of the Eagles moving on from Cox this offseason aren’t exactly simple. I mean, it took a 25 minute and 34 second video from Over The Cap to explain how the Eagles trading or cutting him could impact Philly’s cap situation. The Eagles do have avenues to moving him but the guess here is the Birds end up holding on to Cox because they won’t receive an enticing trade offer that justifies a large dead cap number. In theory, Cox should still have some gas left in the tank entering his age 32 season. But, as we often point out here at BGN, there’s a lot of wear-and-tear on his body. Consider that Cox has logged 2,037 more career snaps than Brandon Graham, who is two years older than Cox and entered the NFL two seasons before him. Cox is hardly a bum at this stage but he’s just not the impact player the Eagles are paying him to be. He’s logged just 4.5 sacks in his last 22 games despite being the NFL’s eighth-highest paid interior defender. Not ideal.

If the Eagles didn’t restructure Cox, they would’ve been able to move on from him and clear some cap space in the process. It’s no longer that simple.

The Eagles likely won’t be moving Cox for the sake of moving him; they’re not trading him for a late Day 3 selection. But if a strong enough offer comes along, they’ll certainly consider taking it. As they should. Cox’s value isn’t bound to shoot up as he continues to decline.