There’s a potential headache brewing for the Cardinals in the desert. Rookie first-round pick Zaven Collins was arrested in Arizona over the weekend, TMZ reports.
Details are light right now, but cops told TMZ that the linebacker “was speeding and driving dangerously.” He was allegedly driving 76 mph in a 35 mph zone. “A traffic stop was conducted, and Mr. Collins was placed under arrest for the violations,” the police said later in a somewhat cryptic statement.
The Tulsa product just signed his rookie contract, worth more than $14MM, a couple of weeks ago. A unanimous All-American this past season, the Cardinals drafted him 16th overall. The incident doesn’t sound particularly serious initially, but if more damaging details end up coming to light it could result in some league discipline.
Collins had four sacks last year, but we heard recently the team isn’t planning on using him as a hybrid pass-rusher and will instead have him playing strictly inside. Assuming everything goes according to plan, he should play a large role on Vance Joseph’s defense in Year 1.
Starting to understand why the Rams are fine with parting with their 1st round picks. This dude and Tenn’s OT last year says a lot.
you judge a guy so harshly for speeding. sure he was way over the speed limit and in traffic court should be punished. But how many people do not speed these days, to a point. don’t compare his one lapse in judgement to a draft pick who already ruined his career in last years titans pick.
I have had speeding tickets. I was never arrested for them, just a ticket.
Driving more than 15 mph over the speed limit turns to reckless driving which is misdemeanor rather than a civil infraction and carries a year in jail.
You are not correct with that statement in the slightest lmao.
A ticket is consider a arrest
There’s speeding and then there’s going 41mph over the speed limit. Just reckless.
The people you see going 41mph over the speed limit are the one’s racing away from a Diamondbacks game after yet another loss.
This is a dumb comment
2 first rounders out of the 200+ since Lewan was drafted and you think you see a pattern? Lol
A sample size of two cherry picked first rounders vs all the others that have developed into superstars. I can explain this to you but I can’t understand it for you
What was cryptic about it? They said exactly what he did and then what they did about it. Haha
This is the information age. No police report is complete without a perps favorite color, food and music artist. And it wouldn’t have killed them to let us know who he was wearing at the time of the arrest.
This bodes well for his future.
I’m going to give him props for not going with the “Do you know who I am?” spiel. I almost take that as a given these days.
He played at Tulsa so that would be a pretty quick “No” from 99.999% of the population.
That goes for most douchebags who use that line. If you have to say it, it’s probably a “no”.
I have a feeling that as a 1st round pick who signed a $14 million contract two weeks prior, he definitely said something to that effect – and then some.
Generally 25 mph over the speed limit then becomes recklessly driving..not speeding. Why he was arrested for this is anyone’s guess so there’s likely something being omitted here…
He was driving recklessly also. That alone is worse than the speed.
Oh gosh… Give the kid a break, we all made stupid mistakes/decisions. Long as he learns from it and slows his butt down. Great pick he’ll be a stud!!
Gotta say that after reading the headline then reading he was pulled over for doing more than double the speed limit I’m pleasantly surprised there wasn’t any guns or drugs involved. Glad nobody was hurt and hope this gets chalked up as a lesson learned in the future.
Speeding aside, the Cards have no idea how to use any of these picks. They grab some of the most physically gifted players they can, play them out of position, and then get surprised when they’re slow starters. Simmons is an example, as is Haason Reddick. He finally got to be the pass rusher he was supposed to be coming out of Temple, and suddenly had a good year.
Outside of Chandler Jones, the Cardinals haven’t had consistency at any linebacker position under Keim because they keep making the assumption that they can convert superb athletes to whatever second level position they want in the front seven. Let Collins rush the passer. It’s one thing he is good at-why waste that by excluding that skillset?
I think the bigger issue with the Cardinals’ linebacker group in recent seasons is that they haven’t had a legit true middle linebacker for a long time. If they had a guy in the middle who can plug holes and stop the run and provide stability then all the tweener types they’ve had would be in a much better position to use their athleticism to make plays.
Well, they did sign one in Jordan Hicks. Before they had Kevin Minter, who was average but serviceable and certainly a middle linebacker. His strength was plugging gaps and stopping the run. You’re correct in that observation that they’ve been bereft of consistency there (who was the last proven player they had for a full season there? Larry Foote?), but they’ve also just failed to invest in the position. The lack of consistency at DT hasn’t helped the run defense either, I will admit.
Keim has been trying to just throw guys in there who should be playing elsewhere (the aforementioned Simmons, Reddick, and now Collins) instead of just finding a dedicated ILB to play in the middle. They haven’t had one, but that’s because they haven’t invested in one.