It didn’t take the Eagles’ first-round draft pick long to incur the wrath of the coaching staff.
Philadelphia defensive coordinator Juan Castillo gave defensive lineman Fletcher Cox what Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer described as “a profanity-filled tirade” when the rookies took the practice field for the first time. That’s not out of the ordinary on an NFL practice field, of course, although in Cox’s case he’s not sure what led to it.
“I don’t know what I did,” Cox said. “But I said, ‘Yes, sir,’ gave him no lip back and I just kept going.”
Cox said Eagles defensive line coach Jim Washburn got on his case for not hustling during one drill.
“I know that’s one thing coach Washburn is going to do,” Cox said. “He’s going to get after me and that keeps me motivated.”
Despite hearing it from the coaches, Cox said he felt good about a practice at which he played both tackle and end.
“We ran around a little bit and we learned a little bit and it was a lot of fun,” Cox said. “We’ve got a long way to go and there’s a lot more to learn, but this was a good first step. ”
He’ll have even more fun when he can get through a practice without hearing a profanity-filled tirade.