On what intrigued him about DT Fletcher Cox: "He's just such a good athlete. I told (head coach) Andy (Reid) when I came back from working him out in Starkville, he's the biggest 296-pounder I've ever seen. He's quick and he's just really athletic. His feet and hands work so well together. He's just a really good football player. He's just a good prospect. He's a better prospect than he is a player at this point."
On whether Reid and general manager Howie Roseman were on board from the beginning or whether he had to talk him up every day: "No, I think everybody that watched film was – we had a young guy, Veach. Brett Veach is an area scout and he got on him right away. I happened to be watching Thursday night football for some reason, I guess I was really bored. I was watching Mississippi State playing somebody and I saw him and I called a friend of mine and I said, 'Who is this guy, 94?' And he said, 'Fletcher Cox, he's just a junior.' And I thought, 'Woah.' But anyway, everybody was on board. That was a unanimous deal upstairs. That was pretty neat."
On whether he is the biggest 295 pound defensive lineman he's ever seen: "I don't know. He's just a big man. Standing next to him, you'd say, 'Dang, this guy's 315.' He's as big as (DT Michael) Brockers or some of those guys. He's just well put together."
On whether he was confident that the Eagles would get him: "No, I didn't think we had a chance. I didn't think that many teams would pass on him but they did. Guess it was just meant to be. I don't sweat anything out but I used to. It's just going to happen the way it's going to happen."
On what point he thought they would draft him: "When they called me into the draft room and said there was a chance we could trade up. It's a good organization here, and it's neat that it was unanimous and it wasn't a hard decision. He was the guy we wanted to call on. People always say that stuff but that was a no-brainer."
On what Cox does well with the way that he runs a defensive line: "He's an exploder and he's tough. He can't explode, I don't want him. If they don't love football, I don't have any use for him. He explodes, he can play, he's passionate, and he likes it. He loves football."
On whether it was hard to differentiate between the DTs in this draft: "No. Honestly, we'll have to see how it plays out but he's so athletic he can play as a defensive end. He moves like a guy who is 260 pounds. The thing about him is he is so much stronger than he looks. He's a good one and I'm excited about him. I'm not going to coach forever, and if this was my last big time project here, this would be fun."
On what he wants to work on the most with him: "Everything. They did a lot of slanting at Mississippi State where they lined up and slanted this way, but we do it that way. It'll be a little bit different for him but he'll do well. When God made him, he made him to be in this system right here."
On how much he looks at whether a player will be able to accept teaching: "That's a big deal with me. I mean obviously everyone can't take it, but he can. He can take it."
