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Peter King/mmqb - The Ephitat - La'el Collins Would Have Played For Falcons (Or Any Other Team) That Drafted Him.


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TEN THINGS I THINK I THINK

1. I think the candor of the representatives of La’el Collins—now—is to be applauded in the wake of Collins going undrafted and then signing as a free agent with Dallas. Robert Klemko of The MMQB had terrific, detailed work about one of the strangest stories in recent draft history. Most of us in the media business, I think, believed it was a bluff when agent Mike McCartney warned teams not to draft Collins, who was wanted for questioning in a murder case the week of the draft, and later questioned without being detained by police in Louisiana. Had he been drafted, McCartney told teams, Collins would have sat out the year and re-entered the draft in 2016. So no team drafted Collins, and McCartney and his agency, Priority Sports, got their way. By not being drafted, Collins got to pick where he wanted to play, and he chose Dallas, where he could be a luxury piece on what could be the best line in football. “We can put it on the record now,” McCartney told Klemko. “We were never going back in the draft. If someone had drafted him, we would’ve had a long, long discussion about it, but at the end of the day you can’t go back in the draft. He could get injured, gain weight, or 10 great tackles could come out. Too many risks.”

2. I think for those who say: Not necessarily. McCartney’s most important job was protecting his client, and putting Collins in the best place possible for 2015, 2016 and beyond after an unprecedented event before a draft. And there was no guarantee that McCartney, in the end, wouldn’t do what he said. If Collins got picked by a cold-weather team, maybe he’d have told McCartney to just forget it, and he’d go back in the draft pool next year.COLLINS: HOW IT ALL WENT DOWN
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Smart of them to do this. Collins gets to go where he wants after being sprayed with the stank of a murder investigation which ultimately he seems to be separating himself from. Good for him.

Way too much money on the libel for a team with needs to take a crack at him. Im kind of surprised that the Patriots or Green Bay didn't take a poke at him.

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But, but, but, he said he wouldn't sign. rolleyes.gif

Told you folks we should have called his bluff and drafted him. We just missed out on a potential Pro-Bowl Lineman because of what? Rumors?

Folks talking about using a 2nd on OL should be furious about not using ANY pick on one of the best players in the draft that went Undrafted.

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Edited by MD-FalconFan13
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I really don't get why no team drafted him.

It is not like the NFL team that drafted Collins would have encountered anything more than a 1-2 day media barrage - i mean, it would not be Arthur Blank, Dan Quinn or Thomas Dimitroff that committed murder. Before the draft concluded it was already widely rumored that La'el Collins was not associated and would not be charged.

If you draft a guy like this in 7th round and cut him - so what?

sometimes, these owners, GMs and coaches overthink this crap - taking La'el Collins in the 6th or 7th round was a no-brainer. It could have changed our draft from an "A-" to a "one-for-the-ages" - Pittsburgh Steeler 1974 type of a draft.

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I really don't get why no team drafted him.

It is not like the NFL team that drafted Collins would have encountered anything more than a 1-2 day media barrage - i mean, it would not be Arthur Blank, Dan Quinn or Thomas Dimitroff that committed murder. Before the draft concluded it was already widely rumored that La'el Collins was not associated and would not be charged.

If you draft a guy like this in 7th round and cut him - so what?

sometimes, these owners, GMs and coaches overthink this crap - taking La'el Collins in the 6th or 7th round was a no-brainer. It could have changed our draft from an "A-" to a "one-for-the-ages" - Pittsburgh Steeler 1974 type of a draft.

Or, maybe they just didn't like him that much.

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I felt we could have had him too- think what this Draft would have looked like if we took him in the 7th! OMG, I felt he would have warmed to playing in the ATL where many professional athletes make there home and it is very accessible to his home. Oh well his agents did a great job bluffing 32 pro guys.

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I guess every team chose not to draft him until he was cleared even though the police only wanted to speak to him and take a paternity test. Can't really blame them coming fresh off Aaron Hernandez.

Even Jerry and the Cowboys didn't draft him.

Would have been nice to have Collins as a Falcon, but now he is a Cowboy so time to move on.

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31 other teams didn't draft him during the draft either, I don't get why fans think this is something our team specifically messed up.

I stated in one of my follow-up posts that I believe all 32 teams screwed this one up.

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