La'el Collins Thread - Cleared post 767; visited Cowboys - 05/06/15

[BoysWin]

Broaddus had him as his 17th ranked player.

nfldraftscout and/or cbssports.com had
Randy Gregory - #16
La'el Collins - #18
Byron Jones - #20

That's a WINNER!!

 

[endersdragon]

nfldraftscout and/or cbssports.com had
Randy Gregory - #16
La'el Collins - #18
Byron Jones - #20

That's a WINNER!!

All 3 make the Pro Bowl for the Cowboys but can't play because of other obligations lol

 

[AzorAhai]

ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
Thick through chest and displays upper-body strength. Has strong hands and will snatch and control less active defenders. He takes defenders for a ride once he's engaged on the move. Loves to mash and intimidate opponents. Mean player. Can center pass rushers and end their attempt in pass pro. Utilizes length in pass protection and is acclimated to a pro-style offense. Able to run-block and pass-set laterally. Well-schooled and technically proficient. If he gets beat on a play, he comes back even harder on the next snap. Finisher. Can come in and play guard or tackle.
WEAKNESSES
Fails to consistently bring hips and feet with him through contact in the running game, causing him to fall forward and lose balance. Hand usage is a major concern. Hands will start too low in pass pro at times and has to work hard to redirect. Change of direction is slow for a tackle. Relies on lunging rather than foot movement to counter inside moves. Plays high out of stance and loses leverage battle on short-yardage confrontations. Will have to move to right tackle or inside.
SOURCES TELL US
"I love the guy on tape. Big-time finisher in the run game and we need that. What I don't like is that his hands are bad as a pass blocker right now and I'm not sure he gets that fixed right away." -- AFC offensive line coach
NFL COMPARISON
Maurkice Pouncey
BOTTOM LINE
Brawling right tackle or guard prospect in the NFL who has had a level of success in hyper-competitive SEC West. Lacks athleticism to be a consistent left tackle, despite his snaps there in college. Collins plays with a mean streak that is evident in every game, and could come in and start right away in a power-running game as a guard. Collins has a first-round grade


I say bring him in and sign him tomorrow. Earn the LG position and earn RT in 1 or 2 years. DAL will be able to gain another COMP pick not resigning Leary in 2016. If Chaz Green and L. Gibson pan-out - maybe move Doug Free for a player........

That's what I saw as well. His pass protection needs work for sure, but technique issues, which a lot of his problems are, can be coached. The way he blows people up in the run game is harder to teach. If he played OG only in the NFL, I think he could be top 5 very quickly. I had him at 8 on my personal board. For what its worth I had Gregory at 5.

Well that's pretty vague. Would be nice if he knew some teams that were out. At least I know we made the 1st cut.

 

[Zordon]

nfldraftscout and/or cbssports.com had
Randy Gregory - #16
La'el Collins - #18
Byron Jones - #20

That's a WINNER!!

we're back brehs.... the good ol' days are back...

 

[BoysWin]

It's really hard to know what will get him to settle there in Dallas. Usually you can throw around the money factor, but everyone is going to be offering the max. I'm unsure if he'd want to sign anywhere before visiting every interested team first

DAL is offering the best OL in football and the rebuilding of the Great Wall and all the other history of the Dallas Cowboys. He can win SuperBowls for the next 2-3 years run blocking for yet another rushing leader in DAL and the NFL's most efficient passer in the game.

Tyron Smith - Fredbeard - Martin and add Collins - DAL is offering Collins an opportunity to WIN NFC Rookie of the Year as an OLman.

 

[darthseinfeld]

How flexible is a UDFAs contract?

 

[AzorAhai]

It's really hard to know what will get him to settle there in Dallas. Usually you can throw around the money factor, but everyone is going to be offering the max. I'm unsure if he'd want to sign anywhere before visiting every interested team first

I'd bet the list is pretty small if he's informed which teams are out. Probably has a list of 3-5 teams he'll have visits scheduled with. I can't imagine he couldn't narrow it down from 10-15 NFL teams to 5 or ao finalists.

 

[jrumann59]

How flexible is a UDFAs contract?

Locked in on length and amount and signing bonus, but you can guarantee base salary, so 3 years 1.5 mill total the signing bonus is a pooled amount that cannot be exceeded, so if dallas already exhausted the pool they cannot offer him a signing bonus.

 

[speedkilz88]

DAL is offering the best OL in football and the rebuilding of the Great Wall and all the other history of the Dallas Cowboys. He can win SuperBowls for the next 2-3 years run blocking for yet another rushing leader in DAL and the NFL's most efficient passer in the game.

Tyron Smith - Fredbeard - Martin and add Collins - DAL is offering Collins an opportunity to WIN NFC Rookie of the Year as an OLman.

They can also take him, Gregory his workout buddy, and show them the Death Star and put him on the big screen.

 

[AzorAhai]

Locked in on length and amount and signing bonus, but you can guarantee base salary, so 3 years 1.5 mill total the signing bonus is a pooled amount that cannot be exceeded, so if dallas already exhausted the pool they cannot offer him a signing bonus.

Most teams have probably exhausted a good portion of that already. I can't imagine many teams have more than 30-40k left. Now the thing is they haven't officially signed a lot of these UDFAs officially so they could pull out, but I doubt if thats a deciding factor. Only way I see it affecting it is if he's can't decide between 2 teams and one has 5k and the other has 40k.

 

[jrumann59]

Most teams have probably exhausted a good portion of that already. I can't imagine many teams have more than 30-40k left. Now the thing is they haven't officially signed a lot of these UDFAs officially so they could pull out, but I doubt if thats a deciding factor. Only way I see it affecting it is if he's can't decide between 2 teams and one has 5k and the other has 40k.

UDFAs usually receive paltry SB for the most part unless the team had you rated pretty high and want to keep you from someone else also. So not all UDFAs get signing bonus money.

 

[AzorAhai]

UDFAs usually receive paltry SB for the most part unless the team had you rated pretty high and want to keep you from someone else also. So not all UDFAs get signing bonus money.

Those small ones add up though. Most teams have a few larger 5-10k sb's and probably average between 2.5-3k total. Signing 15 udfa probably takes 45k+.

 

[Wolf2k5]

That is not a hard sell. They pay OL and not RB. Tyron signed an extension with $40m guaranteed.

See that's what I'm saying. We've shown that were getting away from huge skill contracts and investing in trenches

 

[Beast_from_East]

Man, if we sign this guy it just might be one of the best drafts of all time for this team...............using CBS sports rankings, we could end up with 3 of the top 20 players in this draft.

That would be unreal !!!!!!

 

[EMMITTnROY]

If we sign Collins, then our 1st round pick would be our third best rookie. Haha.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Doug Free is under contract and is a big team guy. He would likely stay on and help Collins if he got beat out. Collins wouldn't replace Free on the roster. He is taking Wetzel or Weems spot. His contract is a bit rich but Collins is coming as cheap as possible.

Free/Leary and Bernadeau are active gamedays. Green gets time to develop. Guys like Gibson, Weems, Wetzel, UDFA get to compete for one or two spots.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Doug Free is under contract and is a big team guy. He would likely stay on and help Collins if he got beat out. Collins wouldn't replace Free on the roster. He is taking Wetzel or Weems spot. His contract is a bit rich but Collins is coming as cheap as possible.

Free/Leary and Bernadeau are active gamedays. Green gets time to develop. Guys like Gibson, Weems, Wetzel, UDFA get to compete for one or two spots.

I think he we signed him, Collins would most likely be our LG. It would be interesting to see where he would stay. Both him and Green are capable of play RT and OG

 

[unionjack8]

Jerry will get it done.....

 

[darthseinfeld]

Here is interesting question. If we sign Collins, does someone go on the trading block, and if so, who?

 

[TheDude]

Doug Free is under contract and is a big team guy. He would likely stay on and help Collins if he got beat out. Collins wouldn't replace Free on the roster. He is taking Wetzel or Weems spot. His contract is a bit rich but Collins is coming as cheap as possible.

Free/Leary and Bernadeau are active gamedays. Green gets time to develop. Guys like Gibson, Weems, Wetzel, UDFA get to compete for one or two spots.

Do you mean Green? With Green, not sure both Free and Leary stay. I could see a trade for a 4-6th rd pick