Philadelphia Eagles: 3 Day 2 players with first round talent

Jabril Cox is the ideal coverage linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles.

(Read Jabril Cox’s full draft profile here)

Sometimes, teams draft players on potential.

While they may not have done much in college or were in the process of transitioning from one position to another, most teams are confident enough in their player developmental staff that they’d happily take a 6-toot-5 defensive end who runs a 4.39 40 even if he only generated seven sacks over three college seasons.

Sometimes it works. The Philadelphia Eagles are currently reaping the benefits of Jordan Mailata’s successful transition from rugby star to NFL offensive tackle and Greg Ward’s AAF-fueled transition from QB to wide receiver, even if it took both players multiple seasons to get to that point.

Then again, oftentimes, it doesn’t; as evidenced by Braxton Miller’s attempt to play wide receiver, Tim Tebow’s attempt to play tight end, and scores of other players who have watched their names fade from memory.

If you’re a general manager with a loaded roster and job security who can take chances on a player who may take a year or two to fully grow into themselves, there are a slew of players who fit that bill to a T all over the board. However, if you’re the GM for a team whose fans cheer for you to be fired at other local sporting events, you probably should be a bit more focused on landing players who have the production to back up their impressive physical gifts.

With that being said, teams also have to have a certain level of talent to compete at any position grouping in the NFL, as evidenced by the Eagles’ swift defensive fallout from fielding a defensive front with Jordan Hicks, Nigel Bradham, and Mychael Kendricks in the middle of the field to Alex Singleton, T.J. Edwards, and Nathan “White Snake” Gerry.

Fortunately for the Birds, there’s a player available by the name of Jabril Cox who could quite literally check every one of those boxes without having to surrender a first-round pick to get the deal done.

A two-star dual-threat quarterback out of Raytown, Missouri, Cox was lightly recruited as a high school upperclassman and opted to enroll at North Dakota State over similar schools like South Dakota, Northern Iowa, and Southern Illinois. He redshirted as a true freshman, made a transition from quarterback to linebacker, and went on to become a fixture of the Bison defensive front, earning two first-team All-MVFC honors, a second-team All-MVFC honor, the MVFC Freshman of the Year Award, and the MVFC Defensive Player of the Year Award, in addition to being a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award and the Jerry Rice Award.

Though he only played three seasons in Bismark, Cox left a lasting impression with his impeccable on-field performances, amassing 258 total tackles, 32 tackles for loss, 14 sacks, 18 passes defensed, and six(!) interceptions in only 45 games of action. Cox was by all accounts the leader of the Bison defense and parlayed the on-field mastery into a spot in the 2020 NCAA transfer pool, where he was the “new most wanted recruit” in the country (subscription required). With interest from Texas, Temple, Virginia, Vanderbilt, Minnesota, Missouri, and about a dozen other schools, Cox ultimately decided to take his services to LSU, where he could seamlessly step in for departing LBs Patrick Queen and Malachi Dupre.

Debuting in a new state, with a new number, and against arguably the second-best competition in the entire country, Cox fit right in with the 2019 NCAA champions, scoring 58 total tackles, 6.5 tackles for a loss, a sack, and three interceptions in his first and final 10 games in a yellow, white, and purple uniform. He transitioned perfectly into Ed Orgeron’s 4-3 scheme playing predominantly on the outside and ultimately graded out as one of the best coverage players in this year’s class regardless of age, school, or position.

And now, fresh off a fantastic showing at LSU’s pro day highlighted by a 4.52 40 yard dash, a 34-inch vertical, and a 123-inch broad jump, Cox is about to become an NFL linebacker for whichever team opts to make his dreams come true on Day 2.

That team, in my humble opinion, should be the Philadelphia Eagles.

Considering Howie Roseman didn’t draft another linebacker in the first round – which was about as likely as them drafting a long-snapper – Cox would immediately slot in as one of the Eagles’ top-3 linebackers and could all but surely be expected to start come Week 1 alongside Alex Singleton and Eric Wilson. At 6-foot-3, 233 pounds, Cox is big enough to cover opposing tight ends, fast enough to make plays behind the line of scrimmage versus running backs, and even possesses the football IQ to be a viable blitzer from the zero gap.

Considering his game is pretty darn analogous to that of Nigel Bradham when he first arrived in the City of Brotherly Love from Buffalo – aka a really good, big 4-3 linebacker – it’s even within the realm of possibility to imagine Cox eventually sidling inside to become the Eagles’ middle linebacker of the future one day, maybe even in 2022 when both Singleton and Wilson are free agents.

In 2020, the Philadelphia Eagles’ two biggest issues on defense were a lack of elite linebacker play and an inability to cover opposing tight ends. With one selection, be it at 37, 70, or somewhere in between, Jabril Cox could fix both of those issues in 2021 and beyond. He’s proven himself at every level of college football, proved his athletic abilities at LSU’s Pro Day, and will surely put all of himself into becoming the best darn linebacker this town has seen in about a decade and a half. It’s just that simple.