Kansas City Chiefs GM Scott Pioli talked with Josh Looney of KCChiefs.com about one of the most talked about players in Senior Bowl: Alabama nose tackle Terrence Cody.
Cody's name has been brought up frequently the past few days at the Senior Bowl but it hasn't always been a good thing. He came in tipping the scales at 370 pounds, which places him as the largest player in attendance. A lot of folks have expressed some concern over his size.
"He's an enormous presence physically," Pioli told Looney. "The thing with a player like that is you know how he can work in a small space but what you want to see is his lateral mobility and how much ground he can cover from that spot. Because obviously you want someone in that spot who can hunker down.
"They also have to have the ability to work within the tackles to make some plays and have some degree of range."
Cody's name pops up around the Chiefs for a couple of reasons. First, nose tackle is a perceived need on the team with 31 year old Ron Edwards manning the position last season and little depth behind him. Second, Pioli was part of drafting Vince Wilfork with the New England Patriots.
"I think the difference is, Vince, personally, [I think] was a little more explosive coming out," he said. "The body types, and the movements...the one thing I saw about Vince was he had more lateral range. Body types like that, the easy thing to do is say he looks like him, but Vince had very long arms for a guy his height, which is important for a guy on the inside of the defensive line."
Terrance Cody is projected to go in the late first to early second round of the draft but concerns over his weight could hurt his draft stock in the coming months.
It's been reported that he played in the National Championship game about fifteen pounds lighter than what he is now so you gotta wonder about a guy that has trouble getting in shape for arguably the biggest job interview of his life to date.