Lighter, faster Coles

April 9, 2008 · Paul Raymond · Jump to comments

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Philadelphiaeagles.com has an article up about Pro-Bowl defensive end Trent Cole, where he talks about the possibilities of the new additions on defense. The most interesting note in there is the fact Coles plans to play next season at 10 pounds lighter then his 2007 playing weight of 265.

Cole feels 255 pounds would be the ideal playing weight for him. “I found out where I need to be at,” said Cole. “I feel like I can be a little lighter because I think my speed helps me a lot in what I do.” This should be good news for Eagles fans, as he is already pretty explosive off the snap and this should make him even faster then what he was. His sack totals of 12.5 last year, might even go up now from this.

The concern I would have is run stopping. Cole has improved every year since being drafted, and without a doubt had his best season against the run in 2007. Could there be a coincidence that a higher weight helped there? He routinely goes against 3-310 pound tackles and on running plays there the ones doing majority of the attacking, can a guy at 255 pound guy be effective against that? Only time will tell. My gut tells me with this guys natural talent he’ll find away to be as effective as he was last year, but he may get a few running plays off here and there.

Don’t get me wrong Eagles fans, Cole is a nightmare on defense and still will be, in no way am I knocking him for the decision. Personally, I feel the Eagles will rotate him more on running downs especially if he starts off slow against the rush. On second and long, third downs he is going to be even scarier then he was last season. There weren’t many tackles last year that could handle his speed and thats going to continue this year.

Here’s the article on the Eagles website.