The Carolina Panthers will be without second-year defensive-tackle Star Lotulelei this week after he suffered a broken foot in Saturday's playoff victory against the Arizona Cardinals.
Lotulelei combined with fellow defensive-lineman Kawann Short to form one of the more formidable tandems this year and both graded inside the Top 25 DTs during the regular season with overall grades of +6.9 and +18.2 respectively.
Taking Lotulelei's place will be 11-year veteran Colin Cole. He’ll have some big shoes to fill. On the season, Cole has -5.5 pass rushing grade and a -5.9 grade against the run. Those grades are supported by a Pass Rush Productivity score that is a little more than half that of Lotulelei (2.8 vs 5.5) as well as a Run Stop Percentage that was 95th among DTs.
With the Panthers traveling to Seattle to face a top-level rushing attack and a dual-threat quarterback, Cole will be tested early and often as he attempts to shore up the center of a defense missing one of its key members.
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