The Eagles did not find a suitable trade involving Fletcher Cox before today’s deadline (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). However, it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The Birds were aggressively trying to deal Cox, according to two NFL sources who spoke with Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer (on Twitter). 
Trading Cox would have left the Eagles with an enormous cap hit, thanks to his six-year, $103MM contract. Cox still has another full year to go on his contract, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll play that out in Philadelphia. Keeping the defensive lineman under his current pact would result in a $23.8MM cap hit for 2022.
Cox has mostly lived up to his contract, but this is standard operating procedure for aging vets in the NFL. Even after collecting six straight Pro Bowls, the Eagles didn’t want to keep Cox through the end of the year.
“FOREVER PHILLY!!!!!,” Cox tweeted on Tuesday.
Forever might be an overstatement, but Cox will at least stay with the flock for the rest of this campaign. Cox, 31 in December, has started in all eight of his games this year while tallying one fumble recovery, one defensive touchdown, 12 tackles, and one sack to bring his career total to 55.5. He’ll make his next start on Sunday when the Eagles face the Chargers.
They were never going to trade him at the deadline, cap hit is too much. BTW, check your facts, They face the Chargers at the Linc not out west.
The two sources are bullshitters.
Why don’t they move the deadline back to like week 11 or 12? We’re not even halfway through the season right now. How are teams supposed to make moves if the have no idea what their needs are or if they’re buyers or sellers? All the other sports have later deadlines that actually have big trades and activity, and it’s actually interesting to follow. Why can’t the NFL do the same?
This man makes a point. This deadline was completely uneventful.
They’re usually pretty uneventful. It’s not like the other sports. NFL trades are usually near draft day or in the offseason.
I think the reason the NFL has it’s trade deadline earlier in the season than some other sports has to do with integrating a player into an offensive or defensive system that is probably alien to him. The learning curve takes a bit longer than in baseball, basketball or hockey.