Players to Watch: Quinton Coples

Football, more than any other sport, is prone to the one-year wonder mistake. Players like Nick Fairley, explode onto the national stage every fall, posting impressive statistics, and jaw dropping highlights. The next question isn’t always “where did this guy come from?” But it needs to be. Football players have a very a short shelf life (averaging under 4 years of professional play time), and as such the demand for early production is high. One-year wonders and players drafted on potential alone come into the NFL every year and fizzle out, because teams refuse to give statistics the value they deserve. Clearly statistics alone are not a predictor of NFL success, but they tell quite a bit about a player’s potential.

Looking at Coples, we see a fantastic physical specimen. Standing at 6’6”, 275 pounds, Coples possesses the speed, size, and strength to play almost any position on the defensive line. He has the kind of versatility and play disrupting ability that made Marcell Dareus the third overall pick this year. Coples is a little taller and not as heavy as Dareus, but has a nose for the quarterback and is constantly breaking up plays.

From a statistical standpoint, Coples had a breakout season last year. He jumped from 22 tackles in 2009 to 59 last year, 33 of those being solo tackles. More impressive than the tackles though, were his sacks. Coples doubled his production last season by registering 10 sacks. When evaluating players, we must not only look at the final numbers, but also, how those numbers are spread across the season. Looking at the sacks, we see that Coples finished his last 6 games with 5.5 sacks, logging a sack in every game except one. Another important number to look at is games played; Coples did not miss a game last year. These numbers are impressive by themselves, but viewed across the season are even more encouraging. Coples shows consistent production that is rare from one-year wonders. His steady sack and tackle production make me very optimistic about his chances of repeating his performance this year.

Coples’ numbers and physical gifts make him a first round pick easily. However, my favorite note on Coples is that all of his success came without star power help. UNC lost Robert Quinn and Marvin Austin, their two top defensive players, for the year due to NCAA violations. Despite the team’s cloud of controversy, Coples pushed pass the criticism and delivered an impressive season. Starting next month, watch the Tar Heels defensive line, to see Quinton Coples playing his way into a top 15 draft position.