Fletcher Cox Believes 2017 Super Bowl Eagles Could Beat This Year's Group

PHILADELPHIA – Maybe the purpose was to keep the fire stoked for one more game, one more win.

Whatever it was, Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox believes the Eagles’ 2017 Super Bowl team would beat this current Super Bowl edition.

Perhaps Cox will come around to Brandon Graham’s way of thinking. Graham said on Sunday, after the Eagles throttled the San Francisco 49ers to win the NFC title, that this team was more talented.

Of course, the 2017 team has something the 2022 team doesn’t, at least not yet – a Super Bowl victory. This year’s group will chase the Super Bowl LVII title when it plays the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 12.

Asked at the end of his press conference on Friday afternoon why he believed 2017 was better, Cox just walked off the stage laughing.

Graham was asked in the locker room why he thought this year’s team was better than 2017.

“I’m not going there,” he said. “I was on both of them. I heard what Fletch said. I’m just going to leave it at that.”

OUR TAKE ON THE TWO TEAMS: Super Bowl Showdown: 2017 Eagles vs. 2022 Eagles

Sitting at the locker next to Graham, defensive tackle Javon Hargrave offered his take.

“We would’ve smashed you guys,” he said to Graham.

“You guys didn’t even make it,” said Graham, then laughed aloud.

Hargrave was with the Steelers, who lost to the Blake Bortles-led Jaguars in the divisional round.

Cox, though, made a valid point earlier about the difference between the two Eagles Super Bowl models.

It had to do with age.

“It’s a new generation,” he said. “You have younger guys (on this year’s team). Back then, we had some older guys that have been around the league for a while.

"Now you have some guys, second, third year in the league that’s doing this. It’s different. It’s 2023, so the personality would definitely be different.”

One of the young guns on this year’s team is Jalen Hurts, but there are other young guns under the age of 25, such as receivers A.J. Brown (25) and DeVonta Smith (24), and offensive linemen Jordan Mailata (25) and Landon Dickerson (24).

On defense, there are linemen Josh Sweat (25), Milton Williams (23), and Jordan Davis (23).

Earlier in his presser, Cox sounded like he was leaning toward the 2022 team being better. Clearly, it's not as cut and dried as it would seem.

“We have different talent, different ways,” he said. “We had elite receivers back then and we have elite receivers now. We have really good tight ends back then and we have really good tight ends now.

“It’s really hard to compare those two teams. There were so many different personalities. That’s the biggest thing. This team has personalities way different from the 2017 team.

“They are really good teams and the biggest thing about it is not only were they really good players, but really good dudes, like really good teammates, and I think that’s really the most important part of what got us to this point.

“Nobody in that locker room thinks they’re better than the next person. When you have that, it’s hard to beat guys that connect and compete the way that we do.”

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Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.