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Vikings Reportedly ‘Tried Hard’ To Sign La’el Collins

By Dan Zinski

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LSU offensive lineman La’el Collins ended up signing with the Dallas Cowboys, but not until after most of the NFL made a bid on the highly-rated prospect who tumbled from the draft due to a bizarre and unfortunate set of circumstances.

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According to ESPN1500’s Darren Wolfson, the Minnesota Vikings were among the 24 teams who pushed for La’el Collins. Wolfson says the Vikings “tried hard” to land Collins.

The 6-5, 322-pound Collins would have been a significant pick-up for the Vikings, who have major question marks on their offensive line, particularly at left guard.

Though the Vikings used three draft picks on offensive linemen, they still arguably do not have solid answers at the left guard and left tackle positions, and some would argue that right tackle is a problem as well.

Collins is believed to have the talent to step in immediately and start at either of the two guard spots or possibly right tackle. So you can understand why the Vikings would try hard to sign him.

Some will look at the Vikings’ efforts to sign Collins after the draft and wonder why the team didn’t spend a seventh round pick to grab him before he hit free agency.

Remember that at the time of the draft there were still significant questions left to be answered about Collins’ name being brought up in connection with a murder. No teams were willing to risk a draft pick on a player who at that point still was under a cloud of suspicion (to this point he has not been named as a suspect).

Even if the Vikings had been 100% sure about Collins’ name being cleared, drafting him would have been risky as it was not known if Collins would even sign with the team who took him.

All that uncertainty made Rick Spielman – and every other NFL owner/GM – unwilling to take a chance on drafting Collins. But those same teams were eager to dive in after the draft and bid for Collins’ services.

The Cowboys ultimately benefit from Collins’ misfortune, landing a potential starting lineman for a small investment in guaranteed money and no investment in terms of draft picks.

La’el Collins at least gets to live out his NFL dream, and that’s good news after the terrible situation that befell him. The Vikings would have been happy to help him live that dream, but he chose the Cowboys instead.

Next: Is Trae Waynes Overrated Garbage?

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