The Cincinnati Bengals have been linked to Dallas Cowboys offensive tackle La’el Collins for quite some time and Sunday, that link resulted in a deal.
According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the Bengals agreed to a deal that prevented Collins from going and visiting another team. According to The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., it’s a three-year agreement.
Dallas released Collins with a designation as a post-June 1 cut to save cap space after being unable to find a trade partner. He quickly came to Cincinnati for a visit.
The Bengals had been linked to Collins from the start as a potential trade partner. Current Bengals line coach Frank Pollack, after all, coached him in Dallas and names around the Bengals such as Willie Anderson have experience working with him.
When it became apparent the Cowboys couldn’t find a trade partner, the Bengals became an immediate favorite to sign Collins as a free agent. Red flags in the form of injuries and a suspension last year presumably hurt the value of Collins, who is otherwise one of the NFL’s best right tackles.
Collins then visited with the Bengals on Friday, a link that continued into Saturday. Joe Burrow and others were part of the recruiting efforts. Funnily, initial reports on Saturday said the extended meeting between Collins and the Bengals ended without a deal. Collins was then reported to be meeting with other teams.
The Bengals did whatever it took to prevent that.
After already upgrading two of the four spots that needed addressed with free agents Alex Cappa and Ted Karras, Collins made all the sense in the world as the upgrade at right tackle.
