Cowboys Ex La'el Collins: Cut Candidate by Bengals? What Dallas Knew

La'el Collins screwed up as a member of the Cowboys, leading to "America's Team'' not inviting him back following the 2021 season.

FRISCO - Let us preface this by saying: We have no personal bone to pick with La'el Collins. We found him to be cooperative and even engaging in our media interactions with him while he was a member of the Dallas Cowboys.

And let us add this: Collins became extremely close with teammates in the Cowboys locker room, starting with ol' fishin' buddy Dak Prescott. And as it is conventional for talented offensive lineman who are best pals with the star quarterback to retain their jobs ...

But. ... La'el screwed that up as a member of the Cowboys, leading to "America's Team'' not inviting him back following the 2021 season.

After that divorce - and then Collins' signing with the Super Bowl finalist Cincinnati Bengals - the Cowboys were ripped by the national media "casuals'' and "trolls'' who failed to understand some of the underlying issues that fueled the goodbye.

The Bengals were adding a blue-chip talent. (Which was true.) The Cowboys were getting nothing for him. And La'el? He was getting a three-year, $21 million contract with $5 million guaranteed with the Bengals after seven seasons with the Cowboys.

But as soon as Collins' joined the Bengals, some of the same problems resurfaced. In Dallas, he did a poor job managing his weight and fitness, which lead to injury ailments. He also acted immaturely on a regular basis, from his alleged efforts to bribe an NFL official assigned to take his urine sample to his babyish unwillingness to pay his Frisco traffic tickets.

And in Cincy? He began training camp on the non-football injury list with a back issue. Now it's 2023 and the Bengals are re-thinking everything. Two years later. La'el is still just 29 - that's mid-career for an offensive lineman - but as AllBengals.com at SI knows well, La'el now might project as a backup ... or maybe even as a Bengals cut.

The Cowboys signed Collins as a UDFA in his draft-eligible year because other teams thought there was something criminally dangerous in his background. They were wrong; the Cowboys were right. But later, Dallas decided there was a "maturity issue'' that could not be overcome. And in the end? The Cowboys are going to be proven right again.

COWBOYS FISH REPORT … now a podcast! Join us inside The Star, ANY TIME!

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Dallas Cowboys?

Follow FishSports on Twitter

Follow Cowboys / Fish on Facebook