Bucs Made A Play For La’el Collins
June 26th, 2015
Stud offensive lineman La’el Collins likely spurned the Bucs, in part, due to the charms of Cowboys henchman Jerry Jones.
Joe remembers for days after the draft Bucs fans were out of their minds because Tampa Bay didn’t try to sign LSU stud offensive lineman La’el Collins.
You might remember Collins was expected to be a first-round draft pick but found himself in the middle of an ugly murder investigation of his ex-girlfriend just days before the draft. Collins was exonerated but not before the draft, in which he wasn’t selected.
NFL general managers clearly were spooked and didn’t dare burn a pick on a guy they thought could be behind bars when training camp started. Factor in the public relations nightmare such a pick would have triggered, not to mention the complete and total meltdown of the most level-headed arm of social media known to man, Twitter.
Appearing on “Late Hits” last night, co-hosted by Alex Marvez and Gil Brandt live from the NFL rookie symposium, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Collins explained the Bucs indeed made a play for him.
.@70LaelCollins: The moment the draft ended I had 32 teams calling. I had to come up with a list. Being able to choose was like college
— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) June 26, 2015
Try to put yourself into Collins’ shoes: He had just lost tens of millions of dollars on what adds up to a false rumor, if not a wild goose chase.
If you had a chance to pick from the 32 NFL teams, why would you pick the Bucs? Aside from one season, the Bucs have been a laughingstock since Collins became an adult. They haven’t won a playoff game since Collins was in grade school.
The Bucs likely were not even on his radar, sadly. Plus, Jerry Jones of the Cowboys, a master salesman, likely threw more cash at Collins than anyone else and sweet-talked him. Joe can understand the lure there.
So please don’t get upset with Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht. He tried. Problem was, it was an uphill swim against a nasty current.
To hear the full interview with Collins, click on the orange button below courtesy of SiriusXM NFL Radio.
June 26th, 2015 at 7:17 am
I dont know about Jerry Jones throwing more cash his way than anybody else since as a Undrafted FA there was limit to how much he could get and fir how long. It came down to who he wanted to play for. If you had the choice of the entire league who would you play for? I agree that the Bucs were’t even on his radar.
June 26th, 2015 at 7:55 am
The Bucs are not on any decent free agents radar. The attract the worst kind of free agents. The one’s looking for a huge pay day and a 1 year rehab.
June 26th, 2015 at 7:56 am
I am confused… I thought every player wanted to play for Laughable Lovie…. Plenty of posters wrote here that “Having Lovie would trump the team being a laughing stock, and players would be lining up to play in Tampa”. They missed out on every free agent they targeted this off-season with the exception of Lovies Prove It-Deal-Has-Beens from the injury list….I guess winning is still more important than a clueless nice guy head coach.
June 26th, 2015 at 8:10 am
Whoever is sad that we did not sign him just google his name and escort. Then decide if we should’ve signed him. #throatzilla
June 26th, 2015 at 8:19 am
SKOORB
who cares about his time with the ladies. he would have instantly become the best offensive lineman on the team and is a lot less risky as a player than marpet or smith. the moral police running this crap show have been a joke with their choir boy experiment including the clueless head coach. This world is not perfect the players are not going to be perfect nor will all live up to your moral standard. Just win baby!
June 26th, 2015 at 8:19 am
the Iosefa pick would have been worth the risk. Who needs an OL addition more than this bunch…ugh
June 26th, 2015 at 8:38 am
tmaxcon
It wont matter how good he is if he makes poor decisions and choices. He is an NFL player. And he is paying for ass ???? Actually he agreed to pay for ass then stiffed her. You cant fix stupid.
June 26th, 2015 at 8:39 am
@SKOORB
Amen brother!
June 26th, 2015 at 8:55 am
Should’ve drafted him in the 7th. But it’s the Bucs bad drafting is what we are known for
June 26th, 2015 at 9:02 am
The stinking cowboys get the good players, the Bucs get the cowboys unwanted cripples, well maybe not that bad since our team is depending on a resurrection of sorts in their careers and to stock the depleted backups. The cowboys, a team I hate to love and love to hate.
June 26th, 2015 at 9:23 am
I’m relieved to hear that we made a play for him. His current contract is a joke, he either has the leagues worst agent or he hushed his agent to be in Dallas. Him passing on the Bucs that have extra millions to spend is like someone passing up an executive position for a Fortune 500 to work for Burger King. He’s not smart at all, his current contract sucks! The NFL is still a job and if he only last for the NFL minimum years (by average) he will hate himself for that choice.
June 26th, 2015 at 9:25 am
I believe Dallas guaranteed the full contract.
June 26th, 2015 at 10:08 am
F*%k him if he doesn’t want to play for us!
June 26th, 2015 at 10:36 am
As usual, Tmaxcon and Touchdown Tony hatred for all things Lovie blinds them to rational thought and writings. Some of you others aren’t doing much better with your ignorance of draft salary tructures and FA options and salaries.
I can only think of two FAS the Bucs missed on. One was a 32 yo DE who was actually a LB last year and the other was a DE who has a 10 game suspension looming over his his head.
Neither one was that much of a miss considering the circumstances surrounding them.
Tmax, you should have worked for Joseph Goebles the way you play with the truth and the facts.
June 26th, 2015 at 10:59 am
I was about to lose my mind before reading drdneast’s post. Thank god there is hope for Bucs fans.
You guys are SLAMMING your team for doing what every other NFL team did. You guys are acting like it’s the acopolypse with 30 OTHER TEAMS are in the exact same situation regarding Collins.
No one drafted him because his agent said he would not play if drafted. You think we should have wasted a 7th and had a guy that would have hated the franchise? What kind of logic is that? He wouldn’t have played.
Going undrafted means he can be eligible for a new contract sooner.
Also, it was never about money as some guy alluded to earlier. You can’t just offer an undrafted FA anything you want; there is a limit so there was no advantage to teams with more cap or anything like that.
Basically in the end; the guy got to choose which team he wanted and we weren’t it OMG OMG!!!! END OF THE FREAKING WORLD!! DALLAS IS THE ONLY GOOD TEAM IN THE NFL I GUESS!
And as drdneast said; the ONLY 2 FA that we didn’t land were two DEs (one 32 years old and one with a 10 game suspension) – WOW THAT MEANS EVERYONE HATES LOVIE SMITH RIGHT??!!!
I mean who cares that we signed Henry Melton, Anthony Spencer, Bruce Carter, etc – I’m sure NO OTHER teams wanted those guys lol.
June 26th, 2015 at 11:16 am
The BUCS blew this and could have had him in the 7th round instead we pickup a slow RB Iosefa who has little chance of making the team. Licht blew this…and got conservative.
RE: Factor in the public relations nightmare such a pick would have triggered
I think the Bucs did a great job of handling the heat that the Winston pick created…..this situation would have been minor in comparison. The problem is too many of these GMs make political picks….instead of picking up guys with great upside and that have risk in the late rounds…like Mr. Collins. We would be looking like geniuses had we picked him in the 7th… Funny things is Marpet was a risk too in the second and we pulled trigger on that deal. I dont get the inconsistency.
June 26th, 2015 at 11:24 am
Please note all teams passed on Collins. There is a reason. Shoot, the Bucs caught holy hell for drafting Jameis. Imagine if Collins actually did kill his pregnant girlfriend the hell the Bucs would have caught for drafting him. Sometimes, you have to think this through. No way is Joe blaming the Bucs for this.
June 26th, 2015 at 11:44 am
I understand and agree yes all 32 teams made the same mistake. I dont blame the BUCS either…hindsight is always 20-20…but I would say when your team hasnt been in the playoffs as long as we have that you have to take risks sometimes and the 6-7 round of the draft is a perfect place to do that. I think Licht has grown a bit from the past 2 off seasons. I think we are heading in the right direction.
June 26th, 2015 at 11:56 am
JoeNUTs his public position was that HE WOULD NOT HAVE PLAYED OR SIGNED A CONTRACT if we drafted him. Period. Move on
June 26th, 2015 at 12:32 pm
His “public opinion” would not and does not matter. John Elway changed all that….back in 83 when the Colts drafted him. The NFL has since changed and tightened the rules. When you enter the draft, their is a binding agreement set forth that the player must sign a contract with the selecting team or his player rights be traded for FMV. At worst, we would have had his rights and asked for a bundle or another vet OL.
Elway’s draft saga paved the way for Eli Manning to pull a similar stunt in the 2004 NFL draft. Manning refused to play for the San Diego Chargers, which ended up trading him to the New York Giants in return for Philip Rivers and two draft picks. <<<<< Bucs need players/draft picks/depth.
June 26th, 2015 at 12:52 pm
This kid straight up ” SAPP’D” a biatch!
June 26th, 2015 at 1:19 pm
Everyone saying that TB should have drafted him in the 7th round do not understand the facts. As others have suggested, Collins’ agent told all the teams that if he is not drafted by the conclusion of the 3rd round, his client would not sign any contract and would seek entry into the 2016 draft where he believed Collins would be taken in the 1st round. However, if a player goes undrafted, the player is barred from entering subsequent drafts. So the teams essentially decided to let him go undrafted and forced him to decide whether he wanted to play in the NFL or not. If he chose to play, then he needed to sign an undrafted free agent contract because he could not wait until next year’s draft. If TB did draft him in the 7th, TB would have played right into the hand of Collins’ agent where he would have not signed and sat out for one year. This clearly would have been the more bone-headed move. If TB wanted him, they needed to draft him in the first 3 rounds. That, obviously, was something that no team was willing to do with potential charges in connection with a homicide hanging out there.
June 26th, 2015 at 1:34 pm
JoeNUTs not really a good comparison. Collins had financial incentive to not sign any deal and re enter the draft next year. Those qbs were going in the first round and getting paid big regardless
June 26th, 2015 at 2:17 pm
I understand that there was a risk of him not signing if we would have gambled and selected him in the 7th round however, he would have not been able to play for any other NFL team this season which would have cost him more than just playing out his rookie contract. I feel like at the end of the day, he and his agent played all 32 teams and really got over. Now he was able to not only play this season but also able to pick his team. I would have picked him with our 7th pick instead of the FB that will probably not even make the team. Just what I would have done though.
June 26th, 2015 at 5:02 pm
I would love to sit here and give a class on contracts and NFL rules but I dont have the time. If we would have selected him in the 7th round, his rights would have been ours whether he sat or not for a year. In the end, he would have signed or had his rights traded at value.
Rayray has it right the agent played this very well and none of the 32 teams called the bluff.
June 26th, 2015 at 5:44 pm
@ NUTS man
“If the player does not sign with anyone, he is automatically re-entered into the draft the next year, and again, and again each year he does not sign, until a year passes where he is not drafted, thereby becoming an undrafted free agent, or until he actually signs.”
He absolutely could have never signed a contract and then re-entered the 2016 draft according to the rules. And he’d be absolutely smart to have done so considering he’d lose millions of dollars signing a 7th round contract versus waiting a year and signing a 1st round contract.
June 26th, 2015 at 7:19 pm
Correct me if I am wrong, but if we had of selected him in the 7th round and he refused to sign, he would lose eligibility to play another college season because he declared for the draft, right? If that is correct, then no team would have taken him in 2016 with a 1st round pick after he sat put an entire season. He would have been best advised to sign, make the team, become a solid starter, then renegotiate a couple of seasons later and get paid. Just saying!
June 26th, 2015 at 8:51 pm
I would only say:
If we have gotten Collins to play RG and Marpet as a swing G/C the future would have been a whole lot better. Believe me the Center position is going to be Marpet’s down the road. Maybe next year. Probably Bucs will draft a RG next year.and get rid of EDS. Just bear in mind!
June 26th, 2015 at 9:34 pm
When I saw him sitting there at our last pick I thought for sure they would pick a 1st round talent in the 7th, well worth the risk.
June 26th, 2015 at 10:10 pm
@ Lord C
You have suspiciously left off the end of the first sentence. I found where u sourced that paragraph from… lol so busted…
“that team owns the right to sign the player, and so that player CANNOT sign for anyone else.”
Here is the whole thing:
They do not have to sign any contract the drafting team lays before them, but that team owns the right to sign the player, and so that player cannot sign for anyone else. If that player refuses, the team can decide to trade those signing rights to another team, and the process starts over again with that team. If the player does not sign with anyone, he is automatically re-entered into the draft the next year, and again, and again each year he does not sign, until a year passes where he is not drafted, thereby becoming an undrafted free agent, or until he actually signs.
Second, these player rights issues are always resolved in the first 30-60 days after the draft. Your also omitting from the calculation and the agents know that too hence why the team that drafts the players rights has a lot of control/value in the person drafted disgruntled or not. There has never been a player of any real value (Collins was projected in round 1) that went into the next season…so its not reality. The most high profile examples are Eli Manning and Elway.
June 27th, 2015 at 8:29 am
Actually, there is a set maximum amount that teams can spend on their undrafted free agents. Jerry COULDN’T have thrown more cash at him than anybody else. Everybody started the UDFA signing period with the same amount of money.
The Bucs should have called Collins’ bluff and selected him in the 7th round.