Originally Posted by Direckshun
When Collins is on, he is an outstanding lineman in size, athleticism, toughness, technique, and versatility. When he's off, which does happen, he can lapse and give up some plays. With solid coaching, however, you can probably eliminate his negative tendencies and end up with a Pro Bowl caliber talent a few years down the road at either guard or right tackle. Right now, teams are potentially scouting him for left tackle, considering that was his position at LSU, and I have a really hard time believing he wouldn't be really good there, either.
His athleticism doesn't jump out at you, but he can get where he needs to get, and does plenty fine at the second level. He's somebody you can send out on screens without having much issue at all. Moreover, if Collins performs well at the Combine, these fears will be allayed almost entirely.
What really jumps out at you is Collins' runblocking. He's an extremely powerful runblocker who gets low and bulldozes through lineman of all shapes and sizes. Collins has the potential to play guard for 10 years at a very high level given his size (6'5", 321), his quickness off the ball, his technique in getting leverage, and his seemingly impressive strength.
But he's quick enough to handle the edge, as well. His kickslide is pretty decent, and he's very much one of those guys that finishes you when he gets his hands on you. He's just so strong, and does a great job of keeping his butt low to retain position.
If I was desperately hurting for a guard or a right tackle at #23, and had future aspirations to improve my LT position, Collins would be an outstanding candidate to move there. Strong, heady, pretty athletic, and just a great combination of technique in the passing game and brute strength in the run game.
From his time on LSU, you can pretty much plug him in right away and play. Collins has a really high floor -- but he's already pretty much where his ceiling is going to be. He's never going to become much better than he is now, and teams love upside prospects in the 1st round.
Projection for Collins: I'm higher on Collins than most, and I'd say he's definitely first round talent. He's everything NFL teams love in first-round tackles: he's really good in pass defense, has good technique, terrific push in the run game, can play multiple positions. The thing he's lacking is upside. There's some technique you could do with Collins, but the guy you get on Day One is the guy you got.
Projected Chiefs interest @ 23: Moderate. I honestly think Dorsey would bring in another OL in the first round if the player warranted it, but I think he wants a guy with way more upside than Collins. Collins, again, is a really good player and will be one of the best OL in his draft class, but he's probably not going to give you that game-changing All Pro talent that you're probably hoping for when you draft an OL like this in the 1st.
|