The Cowboys are engaged in active trade talks involving tackle La’el Collins (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). Collins, who is due $10MM in 2022, has drawn interest from multiple teams, RapSheet hears. 
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Pro Football Focus graded Collins as one of the NFL’s best right tackles in 2019. After that, he missed 21 of his next 22 possible games. First came the hip injury which wiped out his 2020 season. Then, in 2021, Collins missed time with a neck injury and a five-game suspension. According to the NFL, Collins attempted to bribe a drug test official last year.
Collins came back in the fall, first as a left guard before moving back to the outside. From a football perspective, Collins’ contract is a bargain — he’s locked in through 2024 at $10MM/year. The going rate for tackles of his caliber and age group (29) is significantly higher.
On the other side of the ball, the Cowboys are hoping that DeMarcus Lawrence will agree to a pay cut. Currently, the edge rusher is scheduled to earn $17MM in base salary for 2022. If they drop the rest of his five-year, $100MM+ extension and use the post-June 1 designation, they can carve out $19MM in cap room for the coming year.
He has definitely been solid when able to play, and losing him would take a major toll on their OT depth (considering Tyron is almost a guarantee to miss 3+ games). However, depending on the offers they get I can see them cashing in on him and slotting Steele in at RT. If they want Steele to be in a depth role they could look at veteran guys like Morgan Moses or Riley Rieff for less than Collins was going to make to fill in at RT.
It’s also a strong OL draft. Good time to get younger and cheaper.
I agree. The only thing that I think may add to the Cowboys’ desire to turn Collins loose would be his bribery fiasco. If they consider his personality to be unreliable, or have knowledge of his doing something else, the trade would be a way to get some value. Otherwise, a $10 million high end tackle is a valuable piece for a team with depth issues the last few years on its o-line.
Perhaps Collins has looked significantly worse to them following his injury. But his deal is still quite low in my mind, and there are a few teams I can think of (like Cincinnati and Baltimore) who could be interested in a bargain quality tackle on the right side.
I agree on the whole bribery angle. Jerrah would never stoop so low as to offer anyone $375k to hide anything. So why let his players get away with it?
Is this a point to this comment that I’m missing, or is it just another “I hate Jerry Jones” thing?
Do you wake up everyday hoping you can get a Jerrah slam in? It’s a bit tiresome
No Peg2 I don’t wake up every morning looking to slam Jerrah, as a lifelong fan I wake up every day hoping that this once great franchise will some day be relevant, and maybe (god forbid) win a SB again in my lifetime. Then Jerrah can go down as not only a great owner (which he is) but also a great team president, GM, and de facto HC at which he is terrible. But it’s been over a quarter century now and there doesn’t appear to be light at the end of this tunnel either. Too many issues to get into, but it all starts at the top. The worst part of it all is Junior looks to be just as much of a clown as Daddy. So get ready for 30-40 more years of ineptitude unless there is a change in ownership… I hope you’re a youngster Peg2 maybe you’ll get to see them win their 6th title…
Dallas would be better off just not resigning Lawrence or Gregory and using the money elsewhere. They need a long term sack partner next to Parsons. That can come through free agency or the draft. David Ojabo or Jermaine Johnson III come to mind as players who could be there at 24 to be a long term partner to Parsons.
There’s also options in the 2nd and 3rd rounds – Sam Williams, Drake Jackson, Kingsley Engabare
I wonder, Who Dey think could possibly need his services?
You can have Bradley Chubb for Collins