May 30, 2017
When Fletcher Cox approached his locker at the NovaCare Complex on Tuesday afternoon, after going through his first organized team activity of the 2017 Eagles offseason, he certainly wasn’t surprised to see a horde of reporters and cameras waiting for him.
“Ready to get this over with?” he asked.
Cox was back in Philly for the second week of OTAs, after him absence the first week qualified as major Eagles news at a point on the calendar when there isn’t much else to talk about. When Cox was asked whether he was surprised about how much the story blew up locally, he did acknowledge the importance of him participating in offseason practices, even voluntary ones.
But in this specific case, Cox had already planned to spend last week with family. No emergencies, simply some scheduled time off.
“It was just a time when my whole family could take off work and it’s time I get to spend with them,” Cox said. “Again, that’s what’s important, football, and my family is important to me and means a lot.”
Cox, who said that he had been in Philadelphia for the Eagles offseason program up to last week, scheduled the time off “a long time ago.” He informed Doug Pederson and defensive line coach Chris Wilson of his plans beforehand.
The Eagles head coach called the reason for Cox’s absence “satisfactory” last Tuesday.
“I know they wanted me here, but it was just one of those times where family was very important to me,” Cox said.
As far as his teammates are concerned, Cox said there was no need for an apology or any sort of clearing of the air.
“We’re grown men,” Cox said. “People in this locker room have families and we know how important our family is. To me, my family is very important because I’ve lost a bunch of important people.”
When asked if he’ll be with the Eagles through the end of their voluntary practices, Cox was quick to respond. Regardless of how you feel about Fletcher Cox missing a few OTAs, the Eagles’ star defensive tackle made it a point put the story to bed on Tuesday.
“Wasn’t I here today?” he said. “I’ll be here next week.”
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