La’el Collins available: Should the Raiders make a move?
What about the negatives?
Collins is a very good player when he sees the field – That is not the problem. The problem exists in the latter half of that sentiment; When he sees the field
The big right tackle has an unfortunate history of missing time, and not all of it is due to injury. In 2016, Collins was able to start in three games before hitting injured reserve in the middle of a week-three match against Chicago.
In 2020, Collins nursed a hip injury in pre-season and carried it over to the regular season. After spending the first three weeks of the regular season on the injured reserve list, the Cowboys’ right tackle was once again ready to roll, or so he had thought. In preparation for Week 4, Collins elected to undergo surgery, placing him back on the IR list before he played a down.
This past season, Collins missed multiple drug tests and even went as far as trying to bribe an NFL drug test collector. The NFL responded to this with a five-game suspension for the Cowboy.
Injuries and shady actions aside, the Raiders also risk hindering first-round pick Alex Leatherwood’s development, who started gaining momentum at the right tackle spot towards the end of the season. This stretch of improvement from Leatherwood also included a week-18 victory against the Las Angeles Chargers, where he held four-time Pro Bowler Joey Bosa to just one pressure during the entire game.
Overall, there are a lot of factors to consider, and it certainly isn’t as black and white as “Collins is good therefore the Raiders should go after him”. Ziegler has a lot of thinking to do when it comes to repairing Las Vegas’ 28th ranked offensive line, and Collins could be part of the reconstruction.