Landon Collins, one year later
August 18, 2020
by Steve Thomas
The signing of Landon Collins last year to a 6 year, $84M contract, with $26M guaranteed at signing and a total of $44.5M becoming guaranteed during the term of the contract, was one of the largest and strongest commitments the then-Redskins had ever made to a player in franchise history. His cap hit peaks at over $17M in 2021, which is a sizeable amount of cap space, especially now that there’s sure to be coronavirus-created salary cap uncertainty next season. So, after watching Collins for a year, do we think that he’ll be worth it in the end? Will he make it through the conclusion of his contract in 2024? Let’s take a look at how his 2019 season went and do a little projection about what we might be able to expect from him this year.
Background
Collins, 6’0”, 222 pounds, was drafted by the the New York Giants out of Alabama with first pick of round two of the 2015 draft. He played in a total of 41 games in three years for the Crimson Tide, with 184 total tackles, including 122 solo and 62 assisted tackles, five interceptions, and 1 touchdown. He was a unanimous First Team All-American in 2014. At the 2015 NFL Combine, Collins ran the 40 yard dash in 4.53 seconds, jumped 35 inches in the vertical leap and 10’0” in the standing broad jump. He then played in and started 59 games in four seasons for the Giants, with 428 tackles, including 321 solo and 107 assisted tackles, 8 interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, and 4 sacks. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2016, 2017, and 2018, and was a First Team All-Pro in 2016. His year by year stats were:
2015: 16 gms, 108 tackles, 80 solo, 28 assisted, 1 interception
2016: 16 gms, 125 tackles, 100 solo, 25 assisted, 5 interceptions, 4 sacks
2017: 15 gms, 99 tackles, 74 solo, 25 assisted, 2 interceptions
2018: 12 gms, 96 tackles, 67 solo, 29 assisted
As you can see, from a statistical standpoint Collins was a legit performer during his time with the Giants. Collins’ 428 total tackles was 9th-most in the NFL between 2015 and 2018.
This past season, Collins played and started in 15 games for the Redskins, missing only the last game of the season, and made a total of 117 tackles, including 78 solo and 9 tackles for loss, 4 passes defended, and 1 sack. His 117 combined tackles was the third-most in the league amongst defensive backs, and his 78 solo tackles was ranked 6th. On the other end of the spectrum, his 4 passes defended was tied for 53rd just among safeties alone, not including corners, and 149th among all defensive backs.
What did we learn about Collins last year?
The first thing that’s most apparent is that Collins maintained roughly the same level of statistical production as he had with the Giants – he consistently makes a large amount of tackles each year, and barring injury it seems likely that his production isn’t going to drop off any time soon. However, when it comes to defensive backs, raw numbers don’t often tell the full story of a player’s performance. In my film study of Collins’ 2018 season with the Giants (click here to read), I said that his strengths included (1) in the box run defense, (2) good but not great game speed, (3) excellent tackling skills at times, (3) decent ability in zone pass coverage, and (4) energy and leadership on the field. In that same piece, I said that his primary weaknesses are (1) missed tackles, (2) pattern matching in coverage, (3) stiffness and lack of agility, and (4) ability to shed blocks.
The Giants used Collins almost as an extra linebacker, playing him in the box a significant amount, as either an outside linebacker, directly on the line of scrimmage as an edge defender, or even occasionally in a middle linebacker position. Last year’s Redskins staff still put him in the box as a strong safety, but when he did play up, they were not quite as aggressive and creative with Collins as were the Giants.
The 2019 Redskins coaching staff also had Collins regularly rotate back to a double-high zone featured in cover 2 and cover 4 defenses. Even when Collins was playing up in a strong safety role, he wasn’t regularly in a more of a linebacker position like he was with the Giants. Generally speaking, in my opinion, Jay Gruden’s staff did not consistently put Collins in position to make the optimal use of his skills as did the Giants.
More than that, though, Collins seems to be a player who can consistently put up numbers but not regularly make a game-changing impact, and that’s his biggest fault. He’s only had 2 interceptions in three years, with none since 2017, and despite being an in the box safety, he’s only had 1 sack over that same time frame. In contrast, the Jets’ Jamal Adams had 6.5 sacks last year alone, and 17 different safeties had at least 3 interceptions in 2019. I think that the Giants were willing to let him leave in free agency because he was going to require an expensive contract but (a) misses tackles, and (b) struggles to make an impact at a level expected of such a high-priced player. He’s a solid, productive pro, but is that enough for a player with an $84M contract?
What can we expect in the future?
It’s on Collins to be able to become a more complete player. At the amount of money he’s making, Collins needs to be able to provide just as much benefit to the team while in zone coverage as he does in the box against the run. The other thing is that his missed tackle habit needs to stop – I saw regular missed tackles in his 2020 game film just like I did in his 2019 game film. That having been said, I have faith that Jack Del Rio and his staff will be smarter than the last group of coaches and will make better use of Collins’ talents.
Defensive backs coach Chris Harris made specific reference to Collins’ ability in the box, telling media during his August 1, 2020, Zoom press conference, “[w]hen he’s near the line of scrimmage is when you really see him show up.” Harris continued on to make it clear that he wants to use Collins the right way, stating, “[w]e plan on utilizing his strengths, his ability to hit people and knock people back and get him taking the ball away.”
In that same press conference, Harris also said that Collins can be a playmaker, providing that “. . . he’s kind of like a spark plug. He can be that guy that you strike, and you just need one match to light the whole fire, the whole box of matches. He can be that guy.” I’m not sure that Collins has really shown enough to generate that kind of faith, but it’s a sign that the team will expect it from him, and that’s a good thing.
Finally, Harris made it clear that he’s going to expect all of his defensive backs to be versatile, stating, “[o]ne thing we want to do is we call ourselves DBs. You’re not a corner; you’re not a safety; you’re a DB, a defensive back.”
This is probably just a bunch of coachspeak, but it nevertheless gives me at least some hope that the team recognizes that Collins is a specific type of safety, and while they certainly want versatility, the fact of the matter is that Collins needs to be used in a manner that he can capitalize on his talents. I therefore expect Collins to play more in the box and be more focused on run defense than in the past. Whether or not that works and Collins becomes an $84M player remains to be seen.