Eagles DT Duo Both Ranked in PFF Top 20 Entering 2021 Season

The Eagles have the makings of a solid defensive line for the 2021 season with Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, Josh Sweat and Ryan Kerrigan on the ends and Flecther Cox and Javon Hargrave in the interior of the line.

The Eagles duo both earned a spot on Pro Football Focus' list of the top interior line rankings entering the 2021 season.

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The veteran Cox is the sixth-best defensive tackle in the game, PFF wrote after he registered 41 tackles, 6.5 sacks in 2020.

Cox finds himself at No. 6 following a down 2020 season by his lofty standards, but he has been Aaron Donald’s biggest competition for the No. 1 spot on this list in most seasons since 2014. Cox ranks second among all interior defenders in total pressures over the past five seasons (302). That number is buoyed by a monstrous 95-pressure year in 2018 — the lone season to keep Donald from sweeping the top five single-season marks since 2016.

Hargrave was signed as a free agent from Pittsburgh during the 2020 offseason, signing a three-year, $39 million deal. He was slowed at the start of the season due to a pectoral injury, but still entered the list at No. 20 overall with 38 tackles and 4.5 sacks.

Hargrave left the Steelers after two consecutive overall grades of 80.0 or higher as the team’s starting nose tackle. His move to Philadelphia came with a career-high 83.9 pass-rush grade but just a 48.1 run-defense grade. There is reason to expect him to regain his form in run defense in 2021 given what he showed in that area in Pittsburgh. Even if Hargrave fails to do so, his 14.7% pass-rush win rate since 2018 — a top-10 mark at the position — will still bring value to the Eagles' defensive line.

With Cox and Hargrave in the middle and Graham, who made the PFF edge rushers list at No. 14, the Eagles boost a talented bunch of defensive lineman entering the 2021 season.