The Eagles took care of the last piece of business for the offseason leading into the 2016 season. A six-year extension locked up Fletcher Cox for the foreseeable future as the staple of the Eagles defense.
It came at a price for the Eagles: $103 million total and $63 million guaranteed, which included a $26 million signing bonus.
Looking at the overall picture, it was a move that was completely necessary. The fixture of the Eagles defense is Fletcher Cox, there is no question. But to spend that much money, an NFL record in guaranteed money for a non-quarterback, doesn't come without risks.
The Eagles have been down this road before, not necessarily with extensions of players they have drafted and grown themselves, but with big names in big roles. See DeMarco Murray, Byron Maxwell, Cary Williams and so on.
Howie Roseman's offseason plan seemed to focus on locking up players who the Eagles drafted and molded through the close of the Andy Reid era and throughout the Chip Kelly era. Zach Ertz and Lane Johnson are two that received megadeals.
With Cox now joining the ranks of high-paid defensive stars, the Eagles need to see the return on the investment. Given his progress, there is nothing that indicates that Cox will start to regress anytime soon. He's only coming off a career year in 2015 where the rest of the Eagles were mediocre at best, the true standout on a team that lacked flash and star-studded performance.
That's what makes the move a no-brainer. It may have only been a matter of time before a deal got done, like Doug Pederson indicated at minicamp, but the longer the negotiations played out, the closer Cox got to free agency and hitting the open market. The last thing the Eagles needed was to get into a bidding war with 31 other teams for their defensive star.
But the hefty cost of $103 million and $63 million guaranteed will loom large until the Eagles take the field and Cox gets a chance to prove his worth.
As was the case with players like Maxwell, Murray and Williams, the price outweighed the results and all three were quickly former Eagles after a season or so with lackluster results. The Eagles have done the in-house extension plenty of times. They just haven't done it on a level like this in quite some time.
For now, there is relief that the Eagles most pressing issue outside of the quarterback saga is now over. Fletcher Cox has his long-term deal and his pay day. In another six weeks, the preparations for the 2016 season will begin with training camp. It will be time for the newly extended Eagles, especially Cox, to show that the price was worth it.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Eagledelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
