Back in 2021, when the Philadelphia Eagles were reportedly thinking about trading All-Pro defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, the Pittsburgh Steelers were one of the teams in the sweepstakes. That never happened, but Cox did appear on Cam Heyward’s Not Just Football Podcast as a guest during Super Bowl week.
And when the topic of who he would want to play with the most came up, Cox answered the man sitting near him — Heyward himself.
“You. That’s all love,” Cox said. “Just respect that you got for the game, respect that I have for the game. The way that you play the game, the way that I play the game, like we definitely could. That would’ve been nice. We could make some things happen.”
Cox has played his entire career with the Eagles, while Heyward has done the same with the Steelers. Each is an icon in the respective era of their team and has become a stalwart of the era. They are bridges, but playing together would have created one of the more fearsome duos in the entire NFL.
According to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, Pittsburgh approached the Eagles about acquiring All-Pro defensive tackle in 2021. And while the deal reportedly would have worked out financially for Pittsburgh, La Canfora says the team was unwilling to part with the draft capital Philadelphia sought.
That year, Heyward was on a tear, but the uncertainty surrounding Stephon Tuitt made a solid defensive line one that should have been even better. Cox could have taken that group from just good to elite, but too many hurdles got in the way of the deal occurring.
If you think about Cox and Heyward in 2021, even though both were older than you would think for a defensive lineman in their prime, they were still two dominant forces. At the time, Cox had made six straight Pro Bowls and would have been the perfect complement to Heyward on the other side.
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