Eagles longtime defensive tackle Fletcher Cox might not be available when the team faces the Rams in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon.
Cox, 32, had an epidural in his back this week after a couple weeks of discomfort, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported. According to the report, if Cox does mis time it’s not expected to be more than a game.
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On the Eagles’ injury report Wednesday, Cox was listed as “did not participate.”
Not only has the six-time Pro Bowler been a very good player in his NFL career, but he’s also been extremely durable, playing 177 games since entering the NFL in 2012. Cox has never played fewer than 14 regular season games in a season. Last year, Cox played and started all 17 regular season games and all three playoff games.
Through four games this season, Cox has started all four and has played 184 snaps (70%) of the Eagles’ snaps on defense. That percentage of snaps is up from 65% in 2022.
Earlier this week, defensive coordinator Sean Desai was asked if this workload is sustainable for Cox at his age.
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“Yeah, Coach (Tracy) Rocker does a great job in terms of communication, and we have a good plan going into the game,” Desai said. “And then a lot of these games, these last two games, are really unique that we played in terms of the week before, the offense had the ball for 9 or 10 minutes in that fourth quarter and so you kind of have to adjust your rep count and the percentages because you didn't get the anticipated plays that you were going to get and this week it was a little bit different.
“We were on the field for a little bit because we had some long drives and gave up some scores there. I think the most important thing is like you said trying to get him healthy to the game one, right, as we manage him through the week and that's really with all the guys, not just Fletch.”
Desai said the Eagles will have to continue to monitor Cox’s workload and mentioned that communicating with Cox himself is a part of the process.
It’s really important to keep Cox healthy because he’s been playing really well in the first quarter of the season. While Cox has just half a sack in four games, he’s tied with Josh Sweat for the team-lead with seven quarterback hits and he’s been fantastic against the run.
In addition to Cox, the Eagles were also without defensive tackle Marlon Tuipulotu (triceps) at Wednesday’s practice. So a position that has a ton of depth has taken a bit of a hit this week.
The healthy defensive tackles on the roster are Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Milton Williams, Kentavius Street and rookie Moro Ojomo, who has been inactive for the first four games.
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