Rising 41 Spots on the List, Fletcher Cox Appears on Fourth Straight NFL Top 100

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The first Eagle to appear on the 2019 NFL Top 100 List was Carson Wentz, who took quite a disappointing drop.

Just a few days later, Jason Kelce saw his name appear on the list for the first time in his career.

The next player, Zach Ertz, made a huge leap by moving up to the 40th position following his record-breaking 2018 season.

That jump was nothing compared to the fourth Eagle to appear on the list.

Fletcher Cox, who came in at number 28 on Monday night, was ranked No. 69 in 2018. He jumped 41 spots, which is a massive leap for someone that was already ranked fairly high and doesn’t play quarterback.

This will be Cox’s fourth straight appearance on the list, but it is the highest that he has ever been ranked and he figures to continually rise on the list.

Moving up 40+ spots on the countdown 📈@fcoxx_91 jumps up to No. 28 on the #NFLTop100! pic.twitter.com/mbU4w7oD3M

— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) July 30, 2019

In addition to a reputation that has now begun to permeate the league that Cox is a far superior defensive tackle to anyone not named Aaron Donald, Cox figures to have real help inside in 2019 with the addition of Malik Jackson and a healthy Tim Jernigan instead of a Haloti Ngata that was injured most of the season.

Cox suffered an injury in the playoffs in 2018, but figures to be ready to play at the start of the regular season and, this season, he can expect a fully healthy Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett to anchor the edges – two players that were never healthy at the same time in 2018.

Cox now has four top 100 rankings, four Pro Bowls and one first team All-Pro placement on his record.

With Cox appearing on the list and positions like safety and offensive tackle seemingly having lower value on the list it would seem unlikely that the team finds any of their players in the top 20 and players like Brandon Graham, Lane Johnson and Malcolm Jenkins appear to have been snubbed. Admittedly, Johnson and Graham did not have their best seasons due to playing through injury in 2018, but Jenkins held down a secondary that had suffered six other injured players.

Taking a look around the rest of the NFC East, the Redskins have one player on the Top 100, the Giants have no one and the Cowboys have seven players on the list. The Redskins lone player is Trent Williams, who has said that he will not play a game for the team again. The Giants and Cowboys both figure to have their starting running backs appear in the top 20 over the next two days.

That would leave the final count at eight Cowboys, four Eagles, one Giant and a technical Redskin who has no interest in associating with the team.