There's a very good reason why Trent Cole has been able to transform from a little-known fifth-round draft pick into one of the league's premier defensive ends.

Hard work.

Cole loves the game of football and can be found at the NovaCare Complex throughout the off-season trying to find any way to improve his game. He's taking his workout routine to even greater lengths this off-season. Cole told PhiladelphiaEagles.com that he's going to engage in mixed martial arts training with FOX analyst Jay Glazer, who has worked with Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart and 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis. Glazer reported that he attended a recent MMA event in Florida with Cole and Willis.

"It starts with the off-season, working out hard. Watching film and trying to correct things you want to be better at than the previous season," Cole said. "Take that into training camp, it starts right there, and carry that into the season."

Cole is certainly not the first Eagle to use MMA. David Akers and Darren Howard have used mixed martial arts as part of their workout routine in the past. Howard lost 15 pounds over the course of the first off-season in which he utilized MMA before the 2008 campaign. Howard led the Eagles with 10.0 sacks that year.

With 47.0 career sacks, no Eagles draft pick has had more in his first five years than Cole. After tying a career high with 12.5 sacks in 2009, Cole earned Pro Bowl honors for the second time in his career.

But after the way the 2009 season ended for the Eagles, Cole wants to find a way to become even better next season.

"It's embarrassing to go out the way we did losing to a team three times and in back-to-back weeks," Cole said. "The Cowboys played great football. That's how you beat a team. They did a good job. We can't do anything about it now. You can't go back in time. You have to move forward to next season and make sure it doesn't happen again.

"For all of the Eagles fans out there, it will not happen next year."

-- Posted by Chris McPherson, 11:45 a.m., February 8