Giants offense bracing for the return of former teammate Landon Collins

Members of the Giants offense know that former teammate Landon Collins is coming in Sunday to play with some added fire. Will they be ready, though?

For the first time in his NFL career, safety Landon Collins will be getting ready for Sunday’s game at MetLife Stadium in the visitors' locker room.

Since entering the NFL in 2015 as a Giants' second-round pick out of Alabama, Collins has consistently been one of the league’s best safeties. 

He was named a Pro Bowler in each of the past three seasons. In his career-best season of 2016, Collins recorded 125 tackles, five interceptions, and four sacks.

Bad blood has since brewed between Collins and Giants general manager Dave Gettleman though, at least as far as Collins is concerned. 

The Giants, the safety has claimed, did not make Collins a contract offer after the 2018 season, with Collins accusing Gettleman of keeping him the dark and of being a liar. 

With Collins angry over how his exit from the Giants was handled, he's definitely sporting a huge chip on his shoulder which should be, well, Giant-sized this weekend.  

Gettleman, of course, will be a spectator at the game, but as for Cllins' former teammates who will have to deal with his wrath, the overall feeling is there are no hard feelings. 

“I keep an eye out for everybody every week,” receiver Sterling Shepard said. “It doesn’t matter who it is.”

Shepard and Collins have known each other going back to college and are therefore no strangers to being on opposite sidelines. But when the clock reads all zeros, on-field adversaries become friends.

“That’s my brother at the end of the day,” Shepard said. “When we step on the field, he knows what time it is. We do this all the time.”

Tight end Evan Engram, who will likely square up against Collins, said he is excited about the matchup. Engram noted that practicing against Collins made him a better player, and added that he was able to catch up with his former teammate at a nearby treatment facility before the season started.

“This sport brings out a lot of us on game days,” Engram said. “He’s a good player and I always wish him the best, but it’s going to be a challenge for us against their whole defense this week and we’ve got to control what we can control and go out and make plays.”

Engram said that he has watched more film of Collins since he left the team, observing that Collins is the same leader on defense for the Redskins that he was for the Giants. 

“He’s flying around, coming in the box, making good plays, and doing what he does, so it’s going to be a challenge,” Engram said. 

“There are a lot of guys on that defense that are really talented, and with him being the leader there, he’s going to have all of them ready.”

Head coach Pat Shurmur knows the kind of threat that Collins poses to an offense. Collins, who was a captain for the Giants last year, used to meet with Shurmur every Wednesday morning. 

“He was a valued member of our team,” Shurmur said. “Now he plays for someone else, and we wish him well, just like anybody that leaves. But what I expect is for him to come and play hard and try to fight for his team.”

In pursuing Collins, who received a six-year, $84 million deal earlier this year, Washington head coach Jay Gruden said that Collins appealed to him because  he filled a much-needed safety position for the team and “he was a pain in the ass" against opponents when the safety was a member of the Giants defense. 

Gruden anticipates some emotion from Collins in Sunday’s game but he embraces his safety’s Giant chip-on-the-shoulder attitude.

“He plays every game, he practices every practice like he’s got something to prove,” Gruden said. 

“I don’t think it will change that much for the Giants, but I’m sure personally for him there will be some extra competitive incentive.”