Veteran Pass Rusher Trent Cole Placed on Injured Reserve by Colts
The Indianapolis Colts were dealt another defensive injury, as veteran pass rusher Trent Cole was lost for the season, leaving the team’s pass rushing rotation in flux.
The Indianapolis Colts announced on Tuesday that the team has placed veteran pass rusher Trent Cole on injured reserve, while releasing safety Lee Hightower and re-signing Adam Redmond to the team’s practice squad.
Obviously, Cole’s loss for the season is a significant blow to the Colts solving their pass rush woes, as the veteran was expected to be a part of the solution this season.
The 33 year old had been battling a back injury to begin the season, but appeared in 2 games, recording 3 tackles–even playing in 31 defensive snaps this past weekend against the San Diego Chargers.
Originally signed to the Colts on a 2-year, $16 million deal in the 2015 offseason, the former Philadelphia Eagles 2x Pro Bowler had a somewhat underwhelming debut season in Indianapolis, finishing with just 3 sacks. However, Cole was a bit more productive than that number actually indicated.
Nevertheless, Cole took a pay cut this offseason, reducing his base salary from $4.25M to $2M this season, and the Colts are expected to save some money from this latest roster move:
Trent Cole will still earn $3m ($2m base, $1m roster bonus paid in March). Misses out on per game roster bonuses totaling $1.015m.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) September 27, 2016
At this time, it’s unclear what injury resulted in Cole being shut down for the season, but the odds are that he re-aggravated his back injury and the team simply didn’t like what they saw on the field this past weekend–with the ailment clearing hindering his play and production.
The Colts do have an opening on their 53-man active roster, which means that the team could elect to promote 7th round rookie Trevor Bates or recently added outside linebacker Deiontrez Mount from the practice squad to replace Cole.
However, the team could also look to add a veteran for additional depth at the outside linebacker position.
As the NFL’s 45th all-time sack leader with 88.5 career sacks, it’s a fair question whether this is the end for Cole, who just entered his 12th NFL season and is coming off of consecutive disappointing campaigns with the Colts.