April 18, 2016
When the Eagles' offseason workout began on April 4th, Fletcher Cox was a no-show at the NovaCare Complex. The Eagles expect that he will again be a no-show for the their voluntary minicamp beginning on Tuesday.
Jason Peters and Darren Sproles were also missing from the Eagles' initial offseason workouts. Peters is expected attend minicamp, while Sproles will not be in attendance due to a "family issue," per Howie Roseman.
Of Peters, Sproles, and Cox, Cox is of course the only player who has an unsettled contract situation. Cox and his camp would love to be paid mega dollars, and the Eagles have made it clear that they want to get a deal completed with him. When asked if the Eagles would consider trading Cox, Roseman emphatically shot down that idea.
"No, Fletcher Cox is going to be on our team," said Roseman. "He's going to be on our team going forward, and we are not trading Fletcher Cox."
The Eagles have leverage in Cox's negotiations. As noted previously, Cox is scheduled to make just under $8 million this season, and if the Eagles franchise tag him in 2017, he'll make significantly less than what he would make if he signs a deal anywhere near his market value. The franchise tag amount for defensive tackles in 2015 was $11.19 million, and $13.65 million in 2016. If we were to project a similar increase in 2017, Cox is looking at a franchise tag amount of about $16 million. If Cox and the Eagles cannot get a deal done, he'll essentially be playing for something close to $24 million over the next two seasons.
Roseman, however, noted that the Eagles were not trying to low-ball him.
"We're not trying to play the leverage game," he said. "If we were playing leverage games, I'd be more careful about my words, calling him a great player, and someone that we want here for a long time. This is not when we're trying to play a game. We're trying to sign him, we're trying to extend him. We're trying to do something that all of us can feel really good about. We understand that's going to hurt us. We're not going to win the deal, and we're not trying to win the deal. There's no purpose in that when you talk about a guy that one day we're hoping that we're talking about him a long time from now as one of the great Eagles of all time."
