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Philadelphia Eagles: Don’t Worry About the Fletcher Cox Contract

By Mike Lacy

Oct 19, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Fletcher Cox (91) walks off the field after own against the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles defeated the Giants, 27-7. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 19, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Fletcher Cox (91) walks off the field after own against the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles defeated the Giants, 27-7. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports /
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Earlier this week, the Philadelphia Eagles agreed to a contract extension with defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. Most Eagles fans are happy about the extension, but some have reservations.

The positives for the deal are obvious: The Philadelphia Eagles will have one of the NFL’s best defensive players anchoring their line for the next several years.  As for the potential negatives, from what I can tell, these are the primary concerns:

That’s too much money for a defensive tackle

Many critics have pointed to the Ndamukong Suh contract as an example of why this deal might backfire. Suh – a similarly dominant defensive tackle – received a large amount of money from the Dolphins before the 2015 season, but he didn’t deliver the kind of impact they expected. He recorded six sacks – not a bad total for a tackle, but not great either – but even with him there, the Dolphins couldn’t finish higher than 25th in defensive yards allowed.

Perhaps the problem wasn’t with Suh, but rather he position he plays. There’s a question about how much impact a defensive tackle can actually have on a defense.

The good news is that in defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s 4-3 defense, a tackle can have a huge impact. Here’s a quote from Schwartz himself:

"When you talk about up front, I think I’d have to go to defensive tackle as opposed to an end, because tackles are harder to take out of a game plan by an offensive coordinator. You can chip a defensive end with a running back, (or) you can put a tight end to that side (and) make him redirect. But the defensive tackle is closer to the quarterback, and he’s harder to scheme. About the only way you can really scheme is slide the center his way, and most of them are good at dealing with that."

Considering the success that Bills tackle Marcell Dareus had when playing under Schwartz, it seems that a good defensive tackle can indeed be a difference maker. Cox has the potential to be as dominant as any player on the field.

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The Philadelphia Eagles are now in cap trouble

(H/t to overthecap.com for all financial info)

Even if Cox is worth the money, the Philadelphia Eagles don’t have a plethora of cap space to play with. The Eagles  have $184,290,225 in salary obligations for next season. With the salary cap expected to be at $166,000,000 in 2017, they’re going to have to make some cuts just to fit under the cap. And that doesn’t factor in any potential free agents they want to sign or young players they might extend.

Has Howie Roseman made a huge mistake? By signing so many free agents, and handing out so many extensions, will the Philadelphia Eagles have to jettison some productive players before next season? Probably not. Just looking at the Eagles’ contracts for next seasons, there are some very obvious places where they can save money.

Sam Bradford is signed for 2017, but I’d say there’s about a zero chance he stays on the roster at that number. It seems likely that they trade or cut him, saving about $13 million. In the unlikely event that he plays well enough for the Philadelphia Eagles to want to keep him, he’d almost assuredly sign an extension that would lower his 2017 value.

In addition, Jason Peters is owed $11.2 million in 2017. Considering his declining play combined with the fact that the team could save over $9 million by cutting him, he’s either going to sign a new deal or become an ex-Eagle.

Cap savings could come elsewhere as well. Depending on how they play in 2016 (as well as how comfortable the team feels with their potential backups), Jason Kelce, Connor Barwin, Brandon Graham, and Ryan Mathews are a few of the players who could find themselves on new teams a year from now. So the Eagles might not have the ability to go nuts in free agency next year, they should have at least a little bit of cap space to work with.

Next: The Core is Coming Together

In other words, unless you think Cox is overrated and not that good (you’d be wrong), there’s no reason to dislike this deal. Cox is going to get a lot of money, and the Philadelphia Eagles are going to have a dominant defensive tackle. Sounds like a win-win to me.

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