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Eagles: Fletcher Cox on a tear

PFF-headlinesThere were high hopes for Fletcher Cox when the Eagles drafted him in the first round back in 2012. Coming out of Mississippi State, Cox was seen as the perfect fit in Jim Washburn’s penetrative one-gap “wide-9” alignment and he proceeded to have a solid rookie year.

With the arrival of Chip Kelly and Billy Davis however, came changes to the defensive scheme. The Eagles reverted back to a more conservative two-gap 3-4 and there were concerns as to whether Cox could occupy double teams. His first year under Davis did nothing to assuage those fears as he graded negatively in run defense (-1.8) despite improvement as a pass rusher (+7.1).

After a decent start to the season (+5.2 grade through the first eight games), Cox has really found his form. Over the past five games he’s logged a cumulative +23.8 grade, fueled by three sacks and 19 hurries as  pass rusher, and 14 stops against the run.

Cox has dominating games as a pass rusher (WK 10 vs Panthers, one sack & seven hurries) and others in run defense (WK 14 vs Seahawks, +6.2 grade with eight stops).

As our Sr. Analyst, Sam Monson pointed out:  JJ Watt has been the best player in the league for three years and for the past five weeks Cox has been matching him. For how long can it continue?

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