There’s no way the Eagles fail to re-sign DT/DE Fletcher Cox to a big long-term deal. He’s the best defensive talent/value on the team right now and a huge key to the immediate future of the Eagles defense.
Cox’ agent and the Birds’ front office have been working on a contract for weeks, and the team has made it a priority to get the deal done. The Eagles will pay what it takes to get him, and that price tag will be big.
Cox could end up with a deal that has over $50 million in guaranteed money. Cox’ new deal could have an average cap hit over $15 million.
Guess what—he’s worth it. Cox has proven he can dominate in any type of defensive scheme. He can stop the run and rush the passer. He is a rare talent which can change the course of any game at any given moment.
The only problem in paying Cox guaranteed franchise-player style bread is that you are still only solving one positional piece of the puzzle. You need bookend players in this league to make a difference in the W-L column. What good is it to pay Cox and yet pair him up with bargain basement talent at the other side of the defensive line or at the linebacker positions? Sooner or later even the best individual talents like Cox need backing complements to free them up to do their main thing.
Signing Cox to a long-term commitment does not guarantee winning anything to the Eagles or their fans , it just means that barring catastrophic injury we would have one less positional worry or concern for the next 5 years. You get enough of those key positional situations addressed and suddenly you are at least perennially in the hunt for playoffs qualification again. That doesn’t mean winning anything in the playoffs, as the Pittsburgh Steelers have taught us in recent years— but you are always in the mix. As the Steelers have shown us, you have to hold on to your best defensive players for as long as you can afford to pay them, because by doing so you enhance your overall chances of winning and getting to the post-season. It’s a yin-yang thing. If you don’t pony up to hold on to your best defensive players, you just made life a lot harder for your offense.
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Legacy Posters deserve the EYE’s thanks…
When you realize we are approaching the eve of the 10th annual MACH 10 Eagles draft challenge (simply the greatest Eagles fan contest ever), it makes you appreciate the many contributions of ideas and energy made over the years by our readers and posters. This legacy of educational and entertaining posting started at PE.com’s On The Inside and carried over to the EYE over the past decade.
I find it gratifying to look over the list of past contest winners and be reminded not just of their wins but also of their original posts over the years:
MACH 10 Winners—
2007…M. “Fanny” Harris
2008…Leo Pizzini
2009…M. “Fanny” Harris
2010… GK Brizer
2011…JB-Sage-Lion
2012…~Broz
2013…Don Pardo
2014…Ken Kenemeka
2015…~Broz
Then there is the “Dark Horse” Contest:
2013…Dutch Rubb
2014…South Philly Ben
2015…Bird Crazy
“Bri Suks Egg” Fantasy Football has come on strongly—here are the champs:
2011…Jerky
2012…ATV
2013…Jerky
2014…Dutch Rubb
2015…~Broz
The “KOH” King of the Hill contest has gained momentum:
2011…ATV
2012…GK Brizer
2013…Spiffo
2014…ATV
2015…GK Brizer
And new contests have emerged—like Pardo’s Powerhouse Playoffs:
2016…T-Boner
There’s Brizer’s “SBS” Super Bowl score predictor challenge:
2016…AFRA
The Home Run Game is where over 200 individual posters have won at least once. There are a lot of memories on that list of posters we don’t hear from anymore, like Poet, Somalia, Hedge and CETS, just to name a few. I won’t publish the entire career homer list here, but suffice it to say here are your current 15 career HR leaders:
GK Brizer…………..614
DDD………………….595
R. Lubrich…………332
JB-Sage Lion……..175
ATV…………………..169
~Broz………………..119
Beanstalker………..109
Jerky………………… 99
Dr. Funt……………. 96*
French Lady Fan….92
Dutch Rubb………. 88
T-Boner……………. 87
Kent Phil…………… 84
Palm Feathers…… 75
PPW…………………. 72
[*Dr. Funt’s combined total allowing for his “other characters'” plate appearances is actually 115.]
I have too much fun reading the posts of our readers every day. It is like walking through the Longwood Gardens of education and entertainment.
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