La'el Collins‘ road to an NFL comeback runs through Buffalo.
The 30-year-old has 86 career starts under his belt, but he hasn’t made one since he tore his ACL and MCL as a Bengal in December 2022.
After signing a deal with the Bills following a year of mental and physical recovery, Collins feels he’s finally ready to step back into the trenches with meaningful play.
“They brought me here to play football and I came here to dominate and I’m going to let everything else take care of itself,” Collins said, via WGRZ’s Jonathan Acosta. “I’m going to show up every day and go to work. Help the young guys, and do whatever they ask me.”
Collins is not far removed from being considered a key free-agent signing, such as when he joined the Bengals on a three-year deal in 2022 following his release from the Cowboys after a seven-season tenure.
But he dealt with a lingering back injury from the beginning in Cincinnati that led to a drop in play, and then suffered the knee injury that would eventually spell the end of his time with the Bengals. They released him in September of last season, after which Dallas signed him to its practice squad for a couple weeks of January.
“That’s a tough picture to put yourself in,” Collins said. “To deal with an injury that’s as traumatic as tearing your knee, it’s something you can’t really explain. I felt like last year, I maybe could’ve put myself in a position to play some football, but I knew mentally that the tank was empty.”
Now operating closer to full, Collins is excited for his prospects with the Bills, who finished seventh in the league in rushing last season and fifth in rushing touchdowns. Between James Cook looking to build off his second-year breakout and quarterback Josh Allen always being liable to rumble out of the pocket for extra yards — either on a whim or by design — Collins should feel at home on a team ready to pound the rock.
That type of blocking is where Collins excelled in years before his injury, as he averaged an 89.5 PFF run-blocking grade across his final two seasons played with the Cowboys.
Now a depth offensive linemen, his versatility is another specialty he hopes makes him invaluable to the Bills.
If he carves out a spot on the roster, it’ll likely be at right tackle behind Spencer Brown, but he could swing to the other side if need be, and he also spent his first couple years in the league playing guard.
“I love it,” Collins said regarding his ability to contribute along different spots. “I think that’s a benefit to me, being able to play anywhere.”
If he still has the chops to perform at multiple positions, it’ll benefit the Bills, as well.
The first true test of his form will come starting July 23, when Bengals veterans report to training camp for practice and eventually preseason games. Having gone over 550 days since his last NFL start, Collins has an important few months ahead to prove something to his new squad and, perhaps even more importantly, himself.
“That was tough days,” Collins said about his recovery period. “That was days where you have 70,000 thoughts in your head running crazy, telling you you might not be good enough. You might not come back.”
