Kansas City Chiefs: Landon Collins Should Be Top Priority In Free Agency
The Kansas City Chiefs have been making headlines since the NFL Combine started last week. On Tuesday, news broke that the New York Giants would not be applying the franchise tag on three-time Pro Bowl safety, Landon Collins.
Matt Lombardo, a New York Giants and NFL beat reporter had this to say in regards to the matter of the Kansas City Chiefs potentially acquiring Landon Collins.
There will be a strong market for Landon Collins, now that #Giants opt not to tag or sign him to a new deal. My sense from talking with league sources last week is #Chiefs will make him a priority. Here are some potential landing spots: https://t.co/q2qwd8p8uw
— Matt Lombardo 🏈 (@MattLombardoNFL) March 5, 2019
Collins is a fourth-year player out of Alabama and has had one hell of a start to his young career. His playing style is very similar to the Chiefs own, Eric Berry. Collins typically plays up near the line of scrimmage and can bring the boom on anyone he gets his hands on. In four seasons, he’s totaled 428 tackles, eight interceptions, three forced fumbles and four sacks.
Now you’re probably asking “Why in the hell do we need another Eric Berry when the back end of the defense needs to get stronger in coverage?” While that is a great question, the answer is that Collins is a younger version of Berry and brings an immediate upgrade to what the defense has been missing the last couple of years: Tackling.
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Collins is a sure tackler in the open field, and can close in on areas and ball carriers very quickly. He has great sideline to sideline speed and with the future of Berry up in the air, landing a young guy like Landon Collins will be huge for the Chiefs moving forward.
Pair all of this up with the familiarity of Steve Spagnuolo and their time together in New York and Collins could be a guy who steps in right away and helps other guys get acclimated to things quickly. Plus, having Collins and Berry together for at least one year cannot be a bad thing.
With Berry now older and having more wear-and-tear on his body, he could be asked to play more of a drop back role in the new 4-3 scheme. Players like Jordan Lucas and Armani Watts showed flashes last year of being good secondary pieces as well.
Brett Veach knows that the Chiefs are on the cusp of winning a Super Bowl and adding young talented pieces like Collins should be the priority. Ridding themselves of ugly contracts in Justin Houston and Eric Berry are certain to come, which would free up space to land good players like Collins in free agency.
The Chiefs also have three draft picks in the first two rounds and signing Landon Collins in free agency just checks off one more thing they have to evaluate up until the draft. Once they get the cap situation figured out, Collins could easily be signed to a healthy contract that would put him Kansas City quite a long time.
The Chiefs staying patient at the trade deadline last season would pay off if they were able to get a deal done with the fourth-year safety in the next few weeks. Rumors were that the Giants received multiple offers for Collins, but decided to hold steady. Now that it’s come full circle, this could be something that worked out for the Chiefs brilliantly.
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Don’t be surprised to see that the Chiefs are nearing a deal with Collins when free agency starts on March 14th. As the rumors have stated, he will be a top priority for the Chiefs and I agree with the move.
What about you? Do you think the Chiefs should make him a priority or is he a waste of money?