Bennie Logan Looking At Bigger 2015: 'The Future Is Bright'
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — Bennie Logan was packing his stuff, making sure he would get everything out of his locker. The Eagles' second-year nose tackle was glum. He wasn't used to his football season ending in December. He starred at LSU, which always played in a January bowl game while he was there, and during his rookie season with the Eagles, he appeared in the playoff loss to New Orleans.
This was something new for Logan, who made a major step up in his second year on what is becoming one of the NFL's best young defensive fronts, paired with ends Fletcher Cox and Cedric Thornton. In a year, Logan went from making 27 tackles his rookie season to 57 tackles this year. He went from someone unsure of what he was doing to being an actual force in the middle, with 10 stuffs and one forced fumble.
"I think the future is bright, not just for the d-line but for this team," Logan said. "This group is together for a second year. We fought through a lot of adversity this year. It would be a nice thing for all of us to return. Even our back-up guys did a great job, and we need to grow as a unit. My main thing is to come back hungrier than I did the year before. I have an edge and a chip on my shoulders that makes me want to get better, and I think we can get better everywhere. I think we can rush the passer better, we can be more technique sound. I made a lot of mistakes this year and Cedric and Fletcher made up for me. I want to continue to get better. I also think we're the best front three in the game right now."
Logan said he plans on spending part of the off-season in Philadelphia and part of it in his home state of Louisiana.
"I made leaps this year, but I'm always hard on myself, because I'll never be satisfied," Logan said. "I want to get stronger and quicker in the off season, but I want to stay right around where I am weight wise, right 310, 315. I feel pretty good at that weight. I also know you can't get too comfortable with your endurance. I know people see our offense and how fast it goes, but that means it puts some stress on the defense to keep up. So I'll probably be working on that this off-season, too. I'm not used to this. I like playing football in January. I know a lot of guys on this team do."
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