Fletcher Cox hopes weight loss helps him become more productive
Fletcher Cox hopes less of him means more production.
Cox said Tuesday he plans to play this year about 10 pounds lighter than last year, when he was 320 pounds.
Im a little lighter," he said. "I slimmed up a whole lot. I did a few different things this offseason and kind of switched my body up a little bit. I got uncomfortable a little bit (with his diet), and it helped me.
"Last year I played at 320 and this year I want to play at 310, and this morning I tipped the scales at 312.
"I can move around a little bit more being a little bit lighter, but the big thing for me is can I stay as strong at 310 as I was at 320? Thats the main thing. I want to stay fast and obviously stay strong. I can be lighter and I can be where I was (strength-wise)."
Cox, the 12th player taken in the 2012 draft, signed a massive six-year, $102.6 million contract after his breakthrough 2015 season.
Cox had a good year last year but his level of play dropped from 2015, which may have motivated the weight loss.
He finished with 6 1/2 sacks, just threefewer than 2015. But during the eight-game stretch from the first Redskins game through the Bengals game he had no sacks and just 12 solo tackles. The Eagles went 2-6 duringthat stretch, falling out of the playoff hunt.
Cox still made the Pro Bowl, which made him the Eagles' first defensive player to make consecutive Pro Bowls since Asante Samuel in 2008 and 2009.
But for all his individual accolades, Cox has still played in just one playoff game in his five NFL seasons, a loss to the Saints after the 2013 season.
I went to the Pro Bowl, so I dont think that was a down year," he said. "I had a solid year. It could have been better and as a team we could have been better. Thats what we use this offseason for, to go out and get better.
"I like everything this organization is doing and I think this organization is moving forward. I love everybody (they acquired), especially Derek Barnett. I just go out and watch the kid. I have been here the whole offseason, and this kid has a lot of energy and hes going to be a big help for us."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- There are no grades for floor mopping or toilet cleaning at the NFL combine.
But Krishawn Hogan has done them both, right there at the Indianapolis Convention Center, which connects with Lucas Oil Stadium, the place draft hopefuls gather each year to try to show they have what it takes to make it on the game's biggest stage.
Hogan was a long way away from that back in 2013, when he failed in a bid to make it at NCAA Division II Walsh University in Ohio. He came home to Indianapolis, his dream of playing football still flickering, and got a job as a janitor at the convention center, working the midnight to 8 a.m. shift.
During the day, he worked at an inflatable indoor playground.
The NFL was a long way away.
So when Hogan walked into the arena this year, the only player from an NAIA school invited to the combine, he couldn't help thinking of those hours pushing brooms.
"It was pretty surreal just walking through the buildings," he said. "I just felt blessed the whole time to be there."
Browns: Top pick Garrett still not practicing BEREA, Ohio -- Myles Garrett wore a baseball cap at practice Wednesday instead of a helmet.
The No. 1 overall draft pick remains slowed by an injury the Browns insist is not serious but are choosing to keep secret.
Garrett stayed on the side and worked with a trainer while his Cleveland teammates continued their offseason workouts without the rookie defensive end. Browns coach Hue Jackson did not specify Garrett's injury or why he was kept out of practice.
"It's nothing major," Jackson said. "So I think we're right where we need to be."
Jackson said Garrett did practice on Tuesday, when the workout was closed to the media, but it's not known how much he participated.
"I know you guys want to see him in the worst way," Jackson told reporters. "He looked like Myles Garrett. Big, fast, tough. He's everything we think he is."
Last week, Garrett described the injury "as a little nick" and said the Browns were holding him out of practice as a precaution. He also said he expected to be "full tilt" for this week's workouts. The 6-foot-4, 272-pounder was slowed by an ankle injury during part of his junior season at Texas A&M, but Jackson said it's not related to his new ailment (see full story).
Vikings: Cook signs to put teams entire class under contract EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- The Minnesota Vikings have signed their second-round pick, running back Dalvin Cook, to put their entire rookie class under contract one month after the draft.
Cook's deal was done Wednesday. He was the last of the team's 11 draft picks to sign.
Cook was the 41st overall selection out of Florida State, the third running back off the board. He finished his career with the Seminoles as their all-time leading rusher with 4,464 yards and 46 touchdowns over three seasons.
Cook will compete with Latavius Murray and Jerick McKinnon for carries. Speaking to reporters after practice, a few hours before he signed his contract, Cook said he's had his "rookie moment" in adjusting to the speed of the defense during organized practices with the full team, which began last week.
Texans: Report details Mumphery punishment at MSU EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Police documents say Houston Texans wide receiver Keith Mumphery was expelled from a Michigan State graduate studies program last year for a sexual misconduct violation.
The Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday that Mumphery was accused of sexually assaulting a student in March 2015. A campus police report says they agreed to meet in her dorm room, but contains conflicting accounts of what happened and whether it was consensual.
Prosecutors opted not to file charges and the woman didn't return contact.
Mumphery has played two seasons with the Texans. The Texans declined comment in a statement to The Associated Press beyond saying team officials are "gathering information." Mumphery's agent, Kennard McGuire, declined comment.
The incident is the third case of alleged sexual misconduct involving several current and former Michigan State players during the past three years. One player has been charged.
They call it the Pony set. It's an apt name.
It's the moniker of the Eagles' two-running back formation when 5-foot-8, 176-pound rookie Donnel Pumphrey and 5-foot-6, 190-pound veteran Darren Sproles share a backfield.
"It creates a lot of mismatches because we have great wideouts on the field as well as Carson Wentz back there," Pumphrey said.
"With both of us back there, we can just do crossing patterns and keep the linebackers all mixed up. Even when we motion out, it's going to most likely be a linebacker on us and it's a mismatch on its own."
The Pumphrey-Sproles comparisons are unavoidable, yet understandable. While the two don't have identical body types, they're both small and it seems like Pumphrey will have a Sproles-like role with the Eagles.
Sproles, 33, previously has talked about retiring after the 2017 season, so the fourth-round pick could be his heir apparent. Pumphrey has also been working on returning kicks and punts during OTAs, something he didn't do much of in game action in college and he's looked comfortable doing it. It's yet another thing he can learn from Sproles.
"It's honestly been unbelievable to play under his wing, learn different stuff, different aspects of the game with him," Pumphrey said.
As the current round of OTAs began in the rain on Tuesday, the Pony set was scratched momentarily because Sproles was away for a family matter. It will return, but in the meantime, the Eagles have been showing the various ways they plan on using their new versatile weapon.
That means, in addition to his duties as a running back, Pumphrey will be used out of the backfield as a receiver and in the slot. On Tuesday, the Eagles stacked him as the back end in a bunch formation, almost hiding him behind bigger receivers.
"Pump is so laterally quick," Ertz said. "You see it out there. His change of direction is incredible. Obviously, the coaches are going to have unbelievable pieces to use in this offense between him, Sproles, myself, we added guys like Alshon (Jeffery) and Torrey (Smith). Hopefully the middle of the field will be a little more spaced out than in years past. So we're excited to use him in different ways.
"I mean, you put Sproles and him on the field, how is a defense going to match up? Are they going to play base, will they play dime? Sproles has obviously shown he can run between the tackles, we'll see how much Pump can do in the run game. I think guys are excited to see especially when the pads go on, live bullets, to see that lateral quickness."
Ertz said the Pony set will create problems for defenses similar to those occurring when he and Trey Burton come out in the Eagles' two-tight-end set. Which defense will teams choose to use?
And then Ertz questioned what teams would do if the Eagles come out with 176-pound Pumphrey next to 250-pound LeGarrette Blount in the same backfield. If Pumphrey is a pony, Blount is athoroughbred stallion; but each serves his own purpose in the offense.
"We've got a lot of chess pieces, so it's up to Doug (Pederson) and Frank (Reich) and [QB coach John DeFilippo] to kind of make the most of this," Ertz said. "But that's the good thing, they've shown they can do it in the past and we trust them as offensive players that they'll put us in situations to be successful."
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