Seattle Loses It's Collective Mind - Signs Packers DT Colin Cole for $21 Million

It's a great day for DT Colin Cole, anyone who buys a winning lottery ticket deserves some congratulating, but this is insane. $21 million and $6 million guaranteed? I didn't want him back at any price.

Here's his career stats; in 53 career games he has 3.5 sacks and 84 tackles. He brings no pass rush ability. Which is fine, he was used in Green Bay and is expected to be used in Seattle as an anchor on the defensive line. He uses his 300 lb. frame to hold the point of attack and hopefully occupy two blockers while doing it; so the linebacker can get free and make the tackle.

But he's terrible at doing this. It doesn't show up on a stat sheet, but every time I watched Cole closely on a play, he was usually getting shoved out of the way and opening up a huge cut back lane. The Packers were one of the worst teams last season at stopping the run. The blame doesn't fall all on Cole's shoulders, but he was in no way part of the solution either.

If DT Justin Harrell and DT/DE Cullen Jenkins hadn't missed most of the 2008 season due to injuries, Cole would have rarely stepped onto the field. He was awful last season, but there were no other non-practice squad defensive tackles on the roster behind starting DT Ryan Pickett and DT Johnny Jolly. Neither Pickett or Jolly were great last season, but they were both much better than Cole at any point over the last three seasons and they are both getting paid far less than him.

Field Gulls points out this scouting report, which basically says the same thing I did but except that he actually has value to a NFL team because he's a smart guy and always plays in position. That's true; Cole is a very smart guy (I've read that elsewhere) and he doesn't take himself out of play by overpursuing. It's usually the blocker who shoves him 5 yards out of the play.

John Morgan at Field Gulls found an old quote of mine, probably from last November when it was obvious the run defense was a lost cause and it was time to start doing anything to make it better for 2009. My opinion of him, as you can read above, hasn't changed since then.