How does Eagles DT Fletcher Cox really compare to Aaron Donald?

Offseason surgery due to a foot injury sustained vs Saints in the divisional game held Fletcher Cox out of the entire preseason. However, he should be a full go vs the Redskins on Sunday:

“[Cox] has been working… He’s been going through all our walkthroughs and been getting the mental side of it. And so it leads me to believe he’ll be ready”
Head Coach Doug Pederson

Before going up against a well known foe in former Giants LT, now Redskins starting LG, Ereck Flowers, let’s appreciate just how good Cox is, and how important he is to the Eagles’ success.

We all know he is good, but just how good is that? Let’s jump in:

Dominating the pass rush

You can’t talk about the absolute best pass rushers in the NFL without mentioning Cox. Simply can’t do it. Along with Aaron Donald, he sits at the top-dog table every year:

Since 2014, Cox has been ranked as one of the top pass rushing interior defensive linemen just about every year, peaking in the past two, where he was second only to Aaron Donald. Pass rush is by far the biggest strength, which also shows in terms of production:

Going back and forth in leading in QB hits and hurries, both Cox and Donald consistently rank at the top. Donald had his lowest numbers in 2014 naturally as he was a rookie, but from there mirror the production of Cox in pass rush beautifully.

Finally, the progression of Cox is evident by the “pass rush productivity” stats, which measures the amount of pressure a player generates pr. snap, where he has progressed nicely and consistently since 2014:

	Pass rush productivity rank
2014	39th
2015	12th
2016	6th
2017	6th
2018	3rd

Run defense

Cox fills up nicely in the middle against the run, and often makes plays where he simply obliterates a guard or center and just make you go “wow”.

In terms of grading, Cox got an elite 90.2 grade in ’14, but settled down to only being “very good” in ’15 to ’18.

Hence, while Cox is consistently a top pass rusher, he has over the course of his career shown he can be among the most dominant vs the run as well, but getting after the quarterback ins definitely his strength.

A consistent top-shelf defensive piece of art

Cox do it all, but as shown above, mostly excel in pass rush – an ability that is highly valued as the league is highly skewed towards throwing the football.

In terms of overall defensive ranking, Cox is a regular sight in the top, earning an insane top end rank of 90+ in 3 of 5 years since 14′. In the remaining two years, he earned elite rankings of 80+.