The LSU Tigers offensive tackle, La’el Collins, entered the 2015 NFL Draft as a potential top 15 pick. A 6’4 – 300 lb dominating force in the trenches. He was projected to be a 2nd round draft pick in last years draft and chose to stay at LSU another year, raising his draft stock significantly. Collins, a soon to be millionaire and future staple in an offensive line for an NFL team, had his dream coming to a screeching hault. Two days before the NFL Draft began, a story broken by Adam Schefter, was contacted by police regarding the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend. He wasn’t a suspect. But the police wanted him for questioning. They did, however, inform him they were going to wait until after the NFL draft. Draft day weekend came and not one team selected Collins. 7 rounds and 250+ picks later… Collins’ name was not called. Even the first wave of signings of undrafted free agents… no one chose La’el Collins.
In recent years, the NFL has been struck with tragedy within its players. Most notable are the Aaron Hernandez murder trial, Ray Rice and Greg Hardy’s domestic violence cases, and Adrian Peterson’s child abuse case. Hernandez was found guilty in the prime of his career of murder and will never see the football field or his money ever again. Ray Rice’s incident is the one that started it all. Valentines weekend in 2014, Rice and his fiancé were arrested. A few days later a video surfaces of Rice dragging his limp fiancé out of an elevator in an Atlantic City hotel. Rice’s attorney called it “a minor physical altercation.” Police later had stated they obtained the video which showed Rice knocking Janay Palmer out cold. As big as domestic violence is, how the NFL and the Baltimore Ravens handled it was just sickening. The Ravens and their coach, John Harbaugh, came to Rice’s defense and he’s going to be a part of the 2014 Ravens. Then the Ravens GM put it in the hands of the NFL rather than take action themselves and become respectable in this mess. Eventually the situation went back and forth over the next few months about who knew what… and Rice was still technically a part of the NFL. Finally, he was suspended. The NFL already lost the respect of fans. It was a total trainwreck the way it was handled. Greg Hardy’s case was handled a lot better. The Panthers deactivated him a few weeks into the season. He went to trial and was found guilty of assault. He was awarded a retrial and the charges were dropped when his girlfriend refused to cooperate. Basically he was let go because (__________). I’ll let you fill in that blank. My guess is a nice hefty payment to the victim.
So back to Collins. No NFL team wants a part of this until his name is cleared. I don’t blame them. The public absolutely trashes the NFL and the teams these players play for. When Vick went to the Eagles… the hatred went with him. Cowboys signed Greg Hardy (and was suspended 10 games), and the Cowboys received the hatred. If an NFL team drafted La’el Collins amid a murder investigation, the scrutiny that comes with it would have been huge.
However, as of now, Collins is just being questioned. He’s not a suspect. And because of that black cloud, he lost out on millions of dollars. I feel bad for the guy. My opinion will obviously change if he does happen to be involved, but until then,hope he gets cleared and signs with a team soon.
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