Eagles, Cox agree to four-year contract

Fletcher Cox wasn't worried. Now he won't have to be.

The Eagles and first-round draft pick Cox have agreed to terms on a four-year contract.

Cox was the only remaining unsigned draft pick. As expected, the Eagles will have all nine of their draft picks at training camp at Lehigh University when rookies report on July 22.

"Being from a small town," Cox said on a conference call Monday, "it don’t usually happen from Yazoo City, [Miss.], where athletes get to play in the NFL or even get to go to college. It just comes from hard work."

Cox said he was never worried about not getting a deal done and was in constant contact with his agent Todd France. He also said he's going to do something special for his mother and his siblings now that he has a deal.

"First off, I want to thank coach [Andy] Reid, Mr. [Jeffrey] Lurie and Howie Roseman," Cox said. "My mindset is to go in and do what coach [Jim] Washburn wants me to do and just be relentless."

Cox was the 12th overall pick in the draft in late April. He was the second defensive tackle taken in the draft. The Eagles moved up three spots to take Cox a pick after Kansas City took Dontari Poe at 11. 

Cox was an All-SEC first team pick in 2011, when he had 8.5 sacks, 114 tackles and 24.5 tackles for a loss.

The Eagles' first-rounder from a year ago, 23rd-overall pick Danny Watkins, held out for the first few days of training camp last summer after OTAs and minicamps didn't happen because of the lockout. Watkins was expected to start the season at right guard, but didn't make his first start until the fifth game of the season.

"You don’t want to miss the days of training camp," Cox said. "You don’t want to be three days behind, then someone is three days ahead of you. I know my agent did a great job negotiating. He did a great job of getting it out the way."

Cox attended all of the Eagles' OTAs and rookie minicamp. He missed the first two days of the team's mandatory minicamp last week after the death of his cousin and good friend.

"He’ll be watching down on me as I play on Sunday," Cox said.

Cox returned last Thursday to spend the last day of the minicamp practicing with his teammates.

The 6-4, 298-pound tackle will spend the next month training at home in Mississippi with several former Mississippi State teammates, including Eagle Jamar Chaney.

The new guy
The Eagles also claimed defensive end Monte Taylor off waivers from the Seahawks. Taylor was a rookie free agent from the University of Cincinnati.

The Eagles now have five Cincinnati guys on the roster: Trent Cole, Brent Celek, Jason Kelce, Mardy Gilyard and Taylor.

With the move, the Eagles roster now sits at the new maximum of 90 players.

E-mail Dave Zangaro at dzangaro@comcastsportsnet.com