It might have been a disastrous season for the Eagles defense but not for rookie defensive tackle Fletcher Cox.
Cox, the 12th overall pick in last years draft, was named to the Pro Football WeeklyPro Football Writers Association all-rookie team. The former Mississippi State standout led all rookie defensive tackles with 5.5 sacks and tied three others for most sacks in the NFL by a rookie.
Coxs 5.5 sacks were not only tied for the team lead this year but were also third most ever by an Eagles rookie and the most by a rookie since Derrick Burgess had six in 2001.
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Cox is one of three rookie defensive tackles to start at least 15 games, joining fellow first-rounders Dontari Poe (Kansas City) and Derek Wolfe (Denver). He missed the season finale against the Giants after sustaining a concussion the week before against Washington.
The Eagles traded up three spots in April to get Cox, who was called on to start from Day 1 with veteran Mike Patterson recovering from offseason brain surgery and unable to rejoin the team until midway through the season.
Cox led all Eagles linemen with 64 tackles and ranked fourth with 24 hurries. His play improved as the season went on. Despite seeing rampant double teams, Cox logged 4.5 of his sacks over the last seven games.
E-mail Geoff Mosher at gmosher@comcastsportsnet.com