The Philadelphia Eagles won 10 consecutive games before falling to the Washington Commanders in Week 16. While it’s still just 1 loss in the bigger picture, it proviesaa unique opportunity to evaluate what went wrong and what needs to be improved ahead of the final 2 regular season games and the postseason.
One of those improvements should probably be along the offensive line, where Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder thinks the Eagles should add veteran offensive lineman La’el Collins to the practice squad to add depth. It’s probably the best they could ask for in terms of a late season insurance policy.
“The Eagles’ offensive-line depth was a question mark before Landon Dickerson got injured in Week 15,” Holder wrote on December 23. “Now that he’s hobbled, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to add a veteran lineman to the practice squad ahead of the playoffs just in case. Collins could be a good option since he has experience playing guard and tackle. Also, he played for Kellen Moore in Dallas from 2019 to 2021.”
Collins hasn’t played in an NFL regular-season game since 2022, when he started 15 games for the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Eagles are 12-3 after the loss to the Commanders and currently have the No. 2 seed in the NFC Playoffs and both of their final 2 games are at home — against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17 and against the New York Giants in Week 18.
Collins Once Viewed as Surefire First Round Pick
Headed into the 2015 NFL draft, Collins was projected as a surefire first-round pick out of LSU before news broke he was questioned in the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, 29-year-old Brittany Mills, who was 8 months pregnant when she was shot to death in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on April 24, 2015 — just 6 days before the draft.
While Collins eventually was ruled out as a suspect and a paternity test showed he was not the father of the child, he went undrafted and eventually signed with the Dallas Cowboys. One decade later, Mills’ murder remains a cold case.
Collins started 11 games as a rookie and then started 32 consecutive games in 2017 and 2018 before the Cowboys signed him to a 5-year, $50 million contract extension before the 2019 season.
After sitting out the entire 2020 season due to injuries, Collins was suspended for 5 games in 2021 after violating the league’s substance abuse policy by missing drug tests and allegedly attempting to bribe the worker collecting the urine samples.
Collins Suffered Catastrophic Knee Injury in ’22
Collins asked for and was granted his released by the Cowboys following the 2021 season and signed a 3-year, $21 million contract with the Bengals, where he started 15 games before a devastating knee injury against the New England Patriots in Week 16 ended his season with a torn ACL and MCL.
Collins, who has $49.9 million in career earnings, was released by the Bengals in September 2023 and sat out all of last season recovering from his knee injury. He signed a 1-year, $1.75 million contract with the Buffalo Bills in April 2024 but was released as part of the team’s final training camp roster cuts in August 2024.
In Collins’ last full season in 2022, he allowed 34 pressures, 5 sacks and was called for 8 penalties.
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