Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox was involved in a violent altercation at his New Jersey home last week that involved him wielding a shotgun, according to 6ABC.
Court documents outlined a burglary attempt by a man named Corbyn Nyemah, who allegedly went to Cox's house in Mullica Hill, Gloucester County, last Wednesday. Nyemah was reportedly looking for his ex-girlfriend, and eventually damaged her vehicle, threw rocks at Cox's house, and tried to break into the house before the Eagles defender armed himself with a shotgun, forcing the would-be burglar to flee.
The U.S. Marshals Service said Nyemah was taken into custody in Philadelphia's Port Richmond section on Thursday morning. The agency declined to comment further on the case.
According to 6ABC, Nyemah's ex-girlfriend has been granted a temporary restraining order. It's unclear what specific charges Nyemah faces, but he's expected to appear in court later this month.
Police, prosecutors, and court officials refused to provide documents or discuss details of the case.
Nyemah declined to go on camera Tuesday night with 6ABC's Chad Pradelli, but Pradelli said Nyemah confirmed most of the details of the incident, explaining that he wanted to talk to his ex-girlfriend, whom he dated for two years.
Cox missed Eagles practice last Wednesday, but the team listed his absence as an "illness." Eagles head coach Doug Pederson was asked about the incident during a news conference Wednesday morning, and said Cox's illness was "unrelated" to the incident at his home.
"The police are handling it. It's a personal issue so I'm out of it," Pederson said. "I can't do anything other than hear the results of the investigation and what comes out of that. Obviously we do our best to protect our players, here on premise, but obviously they have personal lives. We all have personal lives, and things are going to come up."
At a locker-room availability on Tuesday, Cox reiterated that the illness that caused him to miss practice had nothing to do with the incident and that he woke up last Wednesday throwing up.
He declined to comment further, saying "I'm here to talk about football, not my personal life."
Nyemah appears to be a former football player who attended East Stroudsburg University. He also appears to have an Instagram account, where he posted a cryptic message Tuesday night that read, "If you know me then you know my heart."
This is not the first time Cox has been involved in an off-the-field incident. In the middle of the Eagles' Super Bowl-winning 2017 season, a North Carolina man sued Cox, alleging the defensive tackle initiated an affair with the man's wife, whom Cox met when she was on a business trip in Philadelphia.
In 2016, he was one of two Eagles defensive linemen who were at the Cheerleaders Gentlemen's Club with wide receiver Nelson Agholor when an exotic dancer said Agholor raped her inside the South Philadelphia club. At the time, Cox denied involvement in the alleged sexual assault. Then-District Attorney Seth Williams declined to press charges in the case, saying his office "lacked sufficient evidence" to prosecute Agholor.
