Florida Football: Brenton Cox’s draft fate may hinge on Combine questions

At his best, Brenton Cox was a wrecking ball for Florida football that could alter the narrative of a game with one decisive blow of an opposing QB. At his worst, Cox was a rouge player that couldn’t be trusted with his gap assignments.

In the middle was a complicated and fiery player that was asked to leave Florida despite being a potential Day 2 NFL prospect.

Cox should put on a show in Indianapolis when the camera and lights are on during the NFL Combine tomorrow, but it is the questions he will face behind the scenes that will determine his draft fate.

Florida Football: A tale of two players

Nick Bosa is 6’4, and 265 pounds. Haason Reddick is 6’1, and 240 pounds. Matthew Judson is 6’3, and 261 pounds.

So, at a reported 6’4, 255 pounds, Cox fits the physical profile of some of the top sack-getters in the NFL.

As we chronicled earlier in the week when talking about which former Florida football players need a good Combine, we noted that Cox should wow NFL scouts with his physical attributes. Assuming he is healthy, he will probably test among the fastest and strongest players in his position group.

During his time at Florida, Cox racked up 12.5 sacks and 28.5 tackles for loss in 29 games played. His most memorable performance as a Gator was the four-sack performance he had against FSU in 2021, dragging a lifeless Florida team to a win against the Neighbors to the West.

And while Cox tended to go rogue in his gap assignments, it did seem like he was improving in that area. Against Utah in the season opener, Cox was routinely picked on after he overran his assignments. As the season progressed, he genuinely looked like he took to the coaching he was given and cleaned up that area of his game.

But as we all know, Cox was dismissed from the team by Billy Napier mid-year. All Napier said was that it was a culmination of issues. It was the second squad he had been dismissed from after he left Georgia in 2019. During his time in Athens, Cox was arrested for possession of marijuana.

We here at Hail Florida Hail haven’t pried too much into the reasons why Napier dismissed Cox. That’s between those two.

But we also aren’t an NFL franchise that will be cutting checks for lots of money, and we aren’t an NFL GM whose job and career might be in jeopardy if he drafts Cox too high and he doesn’t work out.

That’s where the questions and answer portion of the NFL Combine may decide Cox’s draft fate. NFL teams will ask him about anything and everything, from his arrest to his dismissal from Florida football, and everything in between.

If a team doesn’t like his answers, they will scratch him off the list no matter how fast he runs or how much weight he benches.

The NFL draft process is wild and it’s exhausting, but if Cox can make it through it he can be a Day 2 selection.