Fletcher Cox's Value Difficult to Quantify, but Eagles Still Believe in Him

PHILADELPHIA - We can all agree that Fletcher Cox at 31 isn’t the same as Fletcher Cox at 27.

His production, from a number’s standpoint, isn’t there, but they aren’t horrible, either.

He played 70 snaps against the Washington Commanders, the most he’s played since 2020 when he played 74 against Dallas. The previous 70-plus snaps came in 2018, when he went for 79, also against Dallas.

It was a workload that got out of hand on Monday, and Cox said his body felt it.

“You want the truth, I feel like (bleep),” he said Wednesday afternoon. “It ain’t a good feeling, but you do whatever you need to do to win the game. Obviously, 70 snaps is 70 snaps, right? I think if we win that game nobody is worrying about snap counts, but at the same time, 70 snaps mean you have to take care of your body and be ready to play a game on Sunday.

“Think about it. We just played on Monday. I’m two days removed from a game, so normally two days removed from a game the body is still trying to recover from the game.”

Cox made seven tackles in those 70 snaps. None of real consequence, granted, but to say he’s totally cooked, well, that’s where the disagreement enters the conversation.

No matter what you, and even me, think, the Eagles don’t see it that way.

Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon double-downed on Cox during his Thursday morning press conference.

“He’s played extremely well,” said Gannon. “He’s one of the best box defenders that you could ever ask for and he’s super versatile and playing good football for us. When you ask those big guys to play that many snaps, it’s hard duty for everybody.

"Hopefully, he’ll get his body ready to go for this week, but I do not want to see that again.”

Getting off the field on third down and stopping the run will help limit those snap counts for Cox as well as Javon Hargrave, who was on the field for 66 of the 83 the defense had to absorb over the 40-plus minutes the Commanders controlled the ball.

“The number count out of a whack a little bit and that’s why we played that many plays and who we had up for that and how they decided to play us,” said Gannon. “He played a lot of snaps. So did all those guys. I don’t like that.”

It certainly won’t help to keep Cox fresh for the final eight games of the season.

He has three sacks, but his last one was on Sept. 25, when he had 1.5 against the Commanders.

He has just seven QB hits and 16 QB pressures.

He is nothing like his 2018 season, when he 2as 27 for most of it, when he had a career-high 10.5 sacks with 34 QB hits and 61 QB pressures.

He hasn’t come close to reaching those totals since, but that is to be expected as a player ages.

He is still effective enough to play a role on this team.

Next year? Maybe not.

Cox still has value in the locker room as an esteemed veteran, and that’s a difficult role to quantify.

Is it worth the $14 million GM Howie Roseman paid to bring him back this year?

Probably not, but Roseman has been known to develop a sentimental attachment to certain players and Cox has been one of this franchise’s all-time best players since he was drafted 12th overall in 2012.

Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, and the Eagles like what they see, perhaps enough to bring him back next year at a lower price.

Say around $7M, give or take.

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.