Dallas Cowboys: Trade La’el Collins For More Help On The D-Line?

Rumors are rampant the Dallas Cowboys could be setting up trade possibilities, but La’el Collins should only be moved if more defensive line help arrives.

Numerous media outlets are reporting the Dallas Cowboys are in talks with several teams regarding potential trades. This happens all the time at this time of year and it’ll happen again towards the beginning and the end of training camp. Just wait for a few injuries to go down and you’ll see players getting moved.

Trade target number one seems to be right tackle La’el Collins, the fifth-year blocker who was all but forced out of the draft due to an untimely homicide investigation regarding an ex-girlfriend. Collins was never a serious suspect and as he went undrafted, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones aggresively pursuid the former L.S.U. star who likely would have been selected in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft had he not chosen to talk with investigators instead.

That was then, and this is now.

Unfortunately, team building isn’t exactly what the salary cap-era of the NFL is all about, otherwise Jones would already have Collins locked up through at least the year 2022 by now. He’s really more of a powerful interior blocker than he is a right tackle at the NFL level.

But the recent drafting of Penn State offensive guard Connor McGovern tells us about all we need to know about the direction of the Dallas Cowboys and the offensive line. There seems to be a surplus of talent upfront that has some thinking the Cowboys will finally go get that safety that will help America’s Team win the next three or four Super Bowls.

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If the Dallas Cowboys really felt that way, they would not have drafted defensive tackle Trysten Hill with their first selection of the 2019 NFL Draft. There were certainly safety options at the time, but there was a far greater priority.

If the Cowboys thought they were a safety away from a championship, don’t you think Jones and the front office would have gone after former Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas, who’s now much wealthier with the Baltimore Ravens? It’s not like defensive assistant Kris Richard, a former Seahawks defensive coach, was too far away to offer his thoughts.

If you happen to believe the Dallas Cowobys need a safety, Reid Hanson of SportDFW lays out another angle regarding this position and its importance to this particular franchise.

At the end of the day, the Dallas Cowboys can’t afford a high-priced safety, so it makes no sense to bring in a back-end player while there are numerous other players to pay and there’s not a whole lot on the defensive line to help those cornerbacks and deep defenders shine. If you want a nice return on investment on secondary players, they either have to be truly special athletes, like Darren Woodson, or they need lots of havoc going down in front of them.

If the Dallas Cowboys trade for anything, it will probably involve Collins, who they just can’t afford to extend at either right tackle or guard. But that trade needs to bring in more disruptive players close to the football. To think otherwise is to misdiagnose a solid roster which doesn’t have many holes heading into training camp later this summer.

• Published on 05/09/2019 at 11:45 AM
• Last updated at 05/09/2019 at 10:55 AM