11:27am: According to Schefter (on Twitter), a team that had been “strongly considering” Collins will actually pass on the lineman. The writer notes that anything could now happen, perhaps indicating that Collins may go undrafted after all.
11:06am: While some members of the media expected talented offensive lineman La’el Collins to be selected on Friday evening, the LSU product since hasn’t heard his name called. That may change today, as ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter) that Collins is “likely” to be picked at some point this afternoon.
We learned yesterday that the player was considering not signing with a team if he wasn’t selected in the first three rounds. The logic behind this decision is simple; if Collins is drafted but doesn’t sign, he’d have the opportunity to enter the draft next season. If his stock improves, he could be selected earlier in 2016, and he would subsequently receive a significantly higher salary.
However, as NFL.com’s Albert Breer points out (on Twitter), Collins will not be allowed to re-enter the draft is he goes undrafted this weekend. Going undrafted seems to be the worst-case scenario for the guard, as the bonuses for undrafted free agents don’t come close to the salaries for those actually drafted.
According to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (via Twitter), Collins will meet with Baton Rouge investigators on Monday regarding the murder of his ex-girlfriend. Meanwhile, NFL.com’s Albert Breer tweets that the player’s attorney contacted all 32 NFL teams yesterday to “explain Collins’ situation.”