I see you are getting a split opinion on this, which is likely showing that it was a lot closer competition than any of us could have expected it to be, which is why Collins is no longer here. I can't say that Steele is the better player, but he was the better player+contract for the team. Without there being a huge difference in their play, it didn't really make sense to keep Collins, if we viewed him strictly as a left tackle.
I would have switched him to left guard, but it doesn't appear that the team was on board with that, which is why we had to spend our first-round pick on a guard/tackle.
I'm just the opposite, I would Not have been on board with switching him to OG.
- For someone who is/was trying to regain form with a hip issue, placing him inside where he is gonna have to count on bending his knees, and getting even lower to anchor,
even more so at OG in a phone booth, is differently than coming off the edge, in space on the edge would have been a big difference and a bigger challenge to Collins.
- The irony was that Cowboys staff was so hell bent on having him immediately inside at OG, and so reluctant to OT, when they first signed him as an undrafted rookie
because they thought his arm span length was too short for OT, and more suited for OG.
- But the Doug Free sudden retirement totally changed the dynamics.
Just as both the hip concern, suspension and emergence/development of Steele changed the dynamics of departure of Collins.