3 Realistic expectations for Philadelphia Eagles DT Fletcher Cox in 2020

1. Cox reaches 400 career regular-season tackles by Week 12.

It’s hard to believe, but Fletcher Cox has played 132 games in his NFL career if you include his seven playoff starts. The results? You can’t argue with them. He and Aaron Donald, who entered the league in 2014, are widely seen as the two best defensive tackles in the game.

Now, Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs, who was the 37th-overall selection in the 2016 draft, has emerged recently. Some may even tell you that Jones has overtaken Cox as the second-best defensive tackle in the game behind Donald, but regardless of where you are on that argument, there isn’t an owner, a G.M., or a head coach that’s going to complain if you tell them that a 12th-overall selection would one day enter his ninth NFL season with a resume that states he’s been one of the top-two or top-three defensive tackles in the game for that entire stretch.

Most would probably sign up for that in the heartbeat.

In the 125 regular-season games that Cox has appeared in, he’s tallied 367 total tackles, including 260 that have been of the solo variety, 62 tackles that resulted in a loss of yardage, 48 sacks, 11 forced fumbles, 11 fumble recoveries, and 13 pass breakups. He needs 33 tackles to reach 400 for his career (as you know, for whatever reason, regular season totals and playoff totals are tallied separately of one another). Expect him to accomplish that goal during the first three-quarters of the regular season.

Oh, you think that’s asking for too much? It isn’t. It’s quite doable when you take a look at how this Eagles team is constructed.