I’m shocked OL still has not been addressed at all. Still some bigger names available, but list is shrinking and I think we need 2. T Trent Brown, T Terron Armstead , T Eric Fischer, T Morgan Moses , G James Daniels, C Bradley Bozeman, T La’el Collins (via trade)
All the murmurs seem to be now that Collins is getting released so does that mean that nobody is offering anything for him or that he's refusing to join certain teams?
Yeah I don’t understand it. If he gets released, I would expect him to get more than 3 years and 30M. I see some incentive to throw Dallas a late round pick.
I'm at the point where I'm starting to wonder if there's something that the teams know that the public isn't aware of.
It's essentially what they did with Cooper. I don't know if he has any no-trade ability though. Teams may be more willing to be patient and take a chance with a RT than they were with an elite WR though. I'm surprised we haven't made a move on any OL yet, though I do see lots of potential targets still available. The only obvious one that got away was Tomlinson. I don't think the rest were realistic for whatever reason.
This was last year: "The suspension was triggered by Collins' failure to appear for testing, the source added. He has not tested positive for a banned substance and is appealing the suspension. Collins started and played 83 snaps in Thursday night's 31-29 season-opening loss at Tampa Bay, his first game since the final week of the 2019 season because a hip injury sidelined him all of last year." https://theathletic.com/news/cowboys-lael-collins-suspended-5-games-source/DHc2stHlnMw2/ And drama ensued... https://apnews.com/article/nfl-spor...fer-football-d6c58aa640fb8cb7a6c4a5ed95f68822 "FRISCO, Texas (AP) — The NFL accused Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman La’el Collins of trying to bribe a drug-testing official before the player was suspended five games for a violation of the substance-abuse policy, according to court documents released Friday. The allegation surfaced in a federal court case after Collins sued the league, its management council and Commissioner Roger Goodell while seeking an injunction to stop the suspension with two games remaining. The NFL said the person who collects specimens for testing wrote in his notes that in November 2020, Collins asked to meet with him “man to man” and said he felt he was “being tested too much because (they) were seeing each other every day.” The collector said Collins asked if there was something “we could do” and offered $5,000, and later $10,000, according to the NFL’s filing in response to Collins’ request for an injunction. Player agent Peter Schaffer, one of Collins’ representatives, strongly denied the allegations of bribery against Collins, who was recovering from hip surgery at the time and didn’t play in 2020. “He allegedly bribed a collector without giving him any money, to look the other way on a test that was negative?” Schaffer said. “No witnesses, no nothing. He walked in in a T-shirt and shorts on crutches. How can you bribe somebody?” A federal judge heard arguments over the injunction Friday in Sherman, Texas, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Dallas. There was no immediate ruling. The Cowboys (3-1) play the New York Giants (1-3) at home Sunday. Coach Mike McCarthy said Friday there was not a plan in place for Collins, the starting right tackle, to play against the Giants if the suspension were halted. Collins’ suspension was announced the day after Dallas’ 31-29 loss to defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay in the opener, his first game since 2019. During an appeal of the suspension, Schaffer called star quarterback Dak Prescott to testify in an attempt to refute the allegation of bribery. Prescott testified to the joking nature of some of the conversations with the test collector, and said he didn’t see Collins carrying $10,000 on the day in question. The league said in its filing Collins had a “long history of discipline for repeated violations” of the substance-abuse policy. Collins missed seven drug tests in a five-week period around the time of the alleged bribe in November 2020, the NFL said. Schaffer took issue with what he called personal attacks on Collins during Friday’s hearing. “That’s why it was so important to La’el to fight this thing so that people can see he’s not a bad person and he doesn’t have this great history of missing tests and being a bad person,” Schaffer said. “Just the way they just took personal attacks at him. This is one of your players. Find a way to do it without doing the personal attacks. I was embarrassed to be part of the NFL today by the way the NFL lawyers attacked La’el personally.” The league intended to suspend Collins for the first four games of 2020, but the management council and players’ union agreed to a fine. The NFL said Collins continued to miss tests, leading to a five-game suspension that the union negotiated down to two. An appeal of the two-game ban resulted in an arbitrator reinstating the five-game suspension after the league alleged Collins’ attempt at bribery. Collins’ representatives say the NFL falsely claimed the seventh-year player had previously been suspended four games when he hadn’t. They also said he was suspended for missed tests when the new labor agreement in 2020 no longer allowed for suspensions over missed tests or positive marijuana tests. The lineman’s representatives said Collins had legitimate reasons for missing tests, including the death of an uncle in Arizona and the death of Cowboys strength coach Markus Paul, who collapsed in the weight room two days before last year’s Thanksgiving game. Collins signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2015. The former LSU player was expected to be a high draft pick, but his name surfaced in the investigation of a woman’s death just before the draft. Collins was cleared in that case."
I think we’re coming away with 2 tackles and an LB which allows us to draft BPA and not a desperate need pick.
Three thoughts. #1, once you're on the "bad boy who likes drugs" list, they test you non-stop. They can show up anytime, anywhere, and tell you to go pee. Sometimes players are tested daily and others have said it felt like they had a stalker. The NFL goes overboard with these policies and it's why Ricky Williams walked away from the game. #2, don't sign this guy. Maybe he's a stud, maybe he's a perfect fit, but he's also an NFL poster child of why you don't get caught doing drugs. If you read that article, he's been suspended on and off for over a full season because of one incident...which led to another incident....which led to another. Not drug incidents, mind you, but the league leaning on him and the guy saying "I can't pee right now...I just peed for you a few hours ago. Please just leave me alone." #3, he probably did bribe the guy, which isn't "illegal" in this instance and it would be very hard to prove. But still, don't sign this guy. Once you're a "known user" with a failed test or two, the league becomes ultra-obsessive. Almost everyone smokes weed in the NFL, it's great for pain management and inflammation. But you have to be clean on your team's mandatory testing day or this is what happens. The problem here isn't a player or a failed test, it's the policy itself that everyone knows is a joke. If you're out on IR though and you lose track of the date that everyone is talking about in the locker room, then you fail and this is what happens. I've had multiple NFL athletes tell me that to my face...one of them being a SF player that you guys have talked an awful lot about in another thread here. This policy of being ultra-hard on players once they fail a test has to come to an end.
Still... comes down to a fairly simple concept, don't do the drugs... really hard for me to feel bad for someone making a multi-million dollar decision everytime he consumes a substance on the list. These players are getting (well earned) pay inversely proportionate to their maturity level, the opposite of all of us. Making poor decisions that impact their whole careers. They need to pay someone like me to follow them around and knock the bad stuff out of their hands
On one hand I agree with you. On the other, money doesn’t change mental health disorders, depression or substance abuse issues. Now they have the financial and medical resources to take care of that but sometimes when you’re in a bad spot, it can be hard to get out of it. As it relates to this player and Miami, no thanks. I’d rather he figure out those issues on someone’s else’s dime.
Here's the thing about sports and injuries that the NFL doesn't tell you- there are thousands of players from previous generations that ended up with drug addiction from prescription narcotics. You get hurt, so the trainer hands you unlimited Perkisets, Vicotin, etc. to numb the pain. And I truly mean unlimited. But these drugs make you sick, tear through your stomach, damage vital organs and after awhile they don't work anymore. So you're always in pain but you're also addicted, and it screws up your sleep, your practices, your mental health, etc. It's a massive problem since every player is dealing with something banged up. Players smoke weed because they get pain relief without all the side effects or long-term consequences. It is not about "getting high to party" in most cases, it's more about getting out of bed in the morning and being able to practice or play at a high level. The long-term effects of narcotics is very well documented and it's spurned an epidemic in this country...which is why so many states have decriminalized or legalized weed. We really need to stop calling these players "offenders" since almost every single NFL athlete uses marijuana. That's not a guess or a random statement either- its factual. The league knows it as well and that's why they test every team one time on the same date every year- that's their way of letting players easily side-step the rule. But some players get "caught" due to injury, a sudden trade right before their new team is tested, etc. The law itself is broken and everyone in the NFL knows it, but they can't add an illegal drug to the accepted substance list either. If we had federal approval then all of this silliness would go away.
That's the best explaination I've seen. I've heard some of this before, but for whatever reason it hit home this time. We aren't told the substance that these players get caught for right? I've alwasy just seen, "player x suspended for subtance on the do not take list" That could be weed, could be hgh, could be black tar heroine too.... right?
Sometimes it leaks that they were banned for pot, but most of the time it doesn't come out unless it is a repeat offense. Smoking weed is the same as snorting coke or taking steriods...same punishment regardless.
Who would have thought Charles Harris would go on to make a career for himself in this league. Also Myles Jack would be an exciting signing. So far the defensive moves have been treading water and trying to stay good. A guy like Jack would be a marked improvement.
That's super tough. I heard Baker wouldn't be back last year but I don't know the story behind it. At least he went the classy route though and told his city that he loves them- good for him! I have a feeling he posted well before the Browns wanted him to as well, which is "good for him" again. Class act!