Fletcher Cox Replacement Named Eagles' Most Promising Building Block of 2024

The Philadelphia Eagles saw their two-most and longest-tenured players officially retire from the NFL this offseason – Fletcher Cox and Jason Kelce. To their credit, the Eagles prepared for life without both players as they drafted their replacements over the last few years.

The Eagles are always stockpiling talent on the defensive line as they drafted Milton Williams (2021), Jordan Davis (2022), and Jalen Carter (2023) in consecutive years. 

Philadelphia will be looking for this trio to step up their game and dominate in the trenches as they try to win the NFC East and make a deep playoff run.

However, Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon believes that Carter is the Eagles’ most promising building block heading into the 2024 season and can be the perfect Cox replacement.

Kenyon said, "Jalen Carter, meanwhile, is taking on a larger role in Philly. Star veteran Fletcher Cox retired this offseason, opening a starting job for Carter. He notched six sacks, 18 pressures, and two forced fumbles and finished as the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2023."

The former first-round pick started the 2023 season on a torrid pace as he produced 3.5 sacks, four tackles for loss, four quarterback hits, and two forced fumbles through the first five games.

However, Carter didn’t get much pressure in the last 11 games of the season, recording five QB hits, four tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks. His slowdown in production was the perfect microcosm of the Eagles’ defense performance towards the end of the year.

Nonetheless, the Eagles’ defense and Carter should be much improved this coming season with Vic Fangio calling the shots. Last season in Miami, Christian Wilkins had a career year with 65 combined tackles, 23 quarterback hits, 10 tackles for loss, and nine sacks under Fangio.

Now that’s not to say that Carter will have nine sacks like Wilkins, but he has the opportunity to establish himself as one of the premier defensive linemen in the NFL.

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