Cowboys

La’el Collins Wants To Stay At Right Tackle, Despite Talk Of Him Moving Back To Guard

April 9, 2018

Cowboys RT La’el Collins said he’s focused solely on playing right tackle in 2018, despite some speculation that he could be moved back to guard.

“I like playing tackle,” Collins said, via DallasCowboys.com. “Right now, I’m focused on playing tackle. That’s where my mindset is. That’s where I’m grinding for.”

Collins added that making the transition to right tackle is something he believes has made him better.

“I played against a lot of great players at right tackle. It made me better as a player,” Collins said. “Pretty much being able to play every position except center feels great. It was a big stepping stone for me going into next year. I’ll be ready wherever it is.

“(But) I don’t even thinking about switching positions. I’m just focused on getting bigger, faster, stronger and making sure I’m healthy going into this year. I’ll be ready to roll.”

Cowboys HC Jason Garrett stressed the importance of playing their best five offensive linemen and even mentioned Collins’ versatility as something that could help the unit moving forward.

“You’ve heard me say this a lot but one of the things we want is always try to play our best five guys,” Garrett said. “A big part of that, beyond who are the best, is try to put them in the best place individually and the best place collectively. His versatility is going to help us. We have signed a couple of linemen. We’ll put them in the mix next Monday and get to work.”

Collins, 24, wound up going undrafted out of LSU due to an unfortunately set of circumstances, but he managed to sign a three-year, $1.599 million contract with the Cowboys. Dallas later signed him to a three-year, $16.016 million contract a few years ago.

Collins was set to make base salaries of $4.5 million and $6.51 million over the next two years of the agreement when he agreed to a restructured contract this offseason.

In 2017, Collins appeared in all 16 games for the Cowboys and is rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 56 offensive tackle out of 82 qualifying players.