The Pittsburgh Steelers were interested in Fletcher Cox at the trade deadline last year, and as recently as last weekend according to ESPN insider, Jordan Shultz.
#Eagles receiving lots of interest for 6x Pro Bowl DT Fletcher Cox. League sources say #Bills, #Steelers and #Chargers all interested (#Cardinals aren’t due to lack of money).
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) March 12, 2022
Trading Cox would mean a $40M dead cap charge for Philly, so the return would have to be substantial.
Now the veteran is available, and the Steelers wouldn't have to give up any compensation to acquire him. Cox wound up starting 16 games last season and finished the year with 35 tackles, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. He added three tackles in the Eagles’ playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Recently the Steelers brass said that Stephon Tuitt had shown interest in returning to football, but there’s been no indication of when that will happen. It still might not happen. but even if Tuitt returns, the addition of Cox would allow the Steelers to give Cam Heyward more breaks. That was supposed to be a goal of the team last season, but with the rash of injuries, it never happened.
It's said that Cox could still return to the Eagles, but it's unclear on how willing Cox will be after the team tried to trade him, and then ultimately released him. It was reported that Cox wasn't thrilled about his role on the Eagles defense last season. The Eagles will be on the hook for a dead cap hit of $12 million for Cox already even with the post June 1st designation.
If the Eagles would've kept Cox on the roster past 4pm today, he would've earned an $18 million dollar roster bonus.
We will keep yinz updated as more information becomes available.
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