Philadelphia Eagles' Fletcher Cox Reveals Advice From DeMeco Ryans 'That Always Stuck With (Him)'

PHILADELPHIA - In Philadelphia, when Jason Kelce speaks, people listen.

A six-time All-Pro and likely future Hall of Famer, Kelce would be the first to tell you that he wasn’t even the best member of the Philadelphia Eagles to call it a career this offseason.

That is reserved for Fletcher Cox, the four-time All-Pro defensive tackle who is one of two players Kelce teamed with (the other is former All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters) that the popular center believes would have succeeded no matter what, regardless of scheme, coaching or any other outlier. 

Eagles Today asked Cox about that very sentiment when he officially retired at the NovaCare Complex on Tuesday in front of his family, friends, and a host of Eagles’ brass that included GM Howie Roseman, head coach Nick Sirianni, associate head coach Kevin Patullo, and the now-famous Dominic “Big Dom” DiSandro, a senior advisor to Roseman and the team’s director of security.

Cox pointed to former teammate and current Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans as the player who stressed to the gifted Cox that greatness was his responsibility.

“I had a teammate, who’s now a head coach in the NFL, DeMeco Ryans, and his words to me were you don’t let a scheme reflect what kind of player you are,” Cox said. “He said great players find a way and that always stuck with me.”

Ryans was one of the Eagles' defensive leaders from 2012 to 2015 and was on the ground floor of Cox's development when the latter arrived as the No. 12 overall pick in the 2012 draft out of Mississippi State.

Cox played under four head coaches in Philadelphia, Andy Reid, Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson, and Sirianni, and seven different defensive coordinators: Juan Castillo, Billy Davis, Jim Schwartz, Jonathan Gannon and Sean Desai, along with a couple of interim leaders when Todd Bowles was forced to replace Castillo in his rookie season of 2012 and Matt Patricia tagged in for Desai last season.

Cox was probably happiest under Schwartz, who always called the defensive line the “engine of his defense” and stressed an aggressive, albeit disciplined approach, when it came to the pass rush.

The move to the so-called gap-and-a-half Vic Fangio-inspired defense that Gannon employed at the start of the 2021 season wasn’t Cox’s cup of tea, especially coming off the Schwartz era where the high point was a Super Bowl LII championship team in which Cox was the best defender.

When Gannon’s ideas started to pay off, however, Cox started to warm up to the scheme and philosophy.

“No matter what scheme we were in, no matter where they told me to play, 4-technique, 2I, 3-technique, move to a 5, it don’t matter," Cox said. "[Ryans] said don’t let that determine what kind of player you are. 

“You just go out and do your thing.”