The NFL trade market has been very active so far this week with quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Carson Wentz as well as as edge rusher Khalil Mack all changing teams. Early in the offseason, experts believed that the New Orleans Saints would be active pursuing a quarterback via trade but that has yet to materialize. However, the Saints could look to make a trade at a different position ahead of free agency to help to protect their next signal caller and in doing so could bring former LSU Tiger La’el Collins back to Louisiana. Collins is the subject of active trade talks in Dallas.
Perhaps that’s not the New Orleans-Dallas Cowboys trade many expected with Sean Payton having stepped away this offseason. But the Saints are at risk of losing cornerstone left tackle Terron Armstead in free agency next week. Armstead is expected to possibly command north of $22 million per year on the market. If that’s so, there are not many viable replacement options in free agency. The Saints could instead look to reorganize their offensive line by moving Ryan Ramczyk to left tackle and filling the hole at right tackle with a newcomer instead. Collins, and his team-friendly contract, could be an option as a bookend.
New Orleans does have veteran James Hurst they could fall back on as well, but perhaps there would be some value in keeping Hurst as the swing lineman or even allowing him compete on the inside for a role there. While the Saints seem interested in seeing if Cesar Ruiz improves under new offensive line coach Doug Marrone, a little competition could help push the third-year guard.
Meanwhile, the Saints could possibly obtain Collins for an early day three selection. New Orleans is expected to have two fourth round picks, their original and a compensatory pick from last year’s free agent loss Trey Hendrickson. It’s possible that the former could be enough to bring Collins to New Orleans where he’d be an easy plug and play starter on the right side.
In 2021, Collins appeared in 13 games while Ramczyk appeared in 10. The two right tackles logged similar zone run snap shares according to Pro Football Focus. Collins with 49.6% and Ramczyk with 52.4% They both also scored highly with their zone run run blocking grades at 77.6 and 82.7 respectively. Collins and Ramczyk were also both ranked in the top ten in PFF’s run blocking grades.
If Dennis Allen’s goal of being a team that wins at the line of scrimmage with a successful run game comes to fruition in 2022, Collins would be an excellent option. His financials would be easy to work with this year as well. With a $10 million base salary in each of the next three years, his contract is begging to be restructured.
A simple restructure could knock that down to the veteran minimum $1.035 million in 2022. With three years left on his deal, the remaining $8.965 million could be spread out as a signing bonus. In that case, Collins would cost only $4.02 millions against the cap this year, allowing the Saints to save upwards of $5.98 million from his original price tag while adding a new starter on an offensive line hoping to rebound this year.
