Seahawks Need to Make Decision on L.J. Collier
Defensive end L.J. Collier certainly hasn't lived up to his first-round status, but he's been a useful asset for the Seahawks at times. That's why it's come as such a surprise that he's been ruled inactive for two of the team's first three games this year and has seemingly been supplanted by veteran Robert Nkemdiche.
In his lone appearance on the year, coming against the Titans in Week 2, Collier played 20 of Seattle's 88 defensive snaps and recorded one tackle with a quarterback hit. This comes after a solid full season last year, in which he posted 3.0 sacks with 22 combined tackles and 17 pressures.
Solid production aside, the Seahawks have clearly favored Nkemdiche in the early going. Nkemdiche was a favorite of the team's coaching staff heading into training camp and seemed to have a spot on the final roster secured, but an undisclosed injury forced him to miss the entire preseason. As a result, the former first-round selection was among the many cuts Seattle made as it trimmed its roster down to 53 players.
But Nkemdiche wouldn't be gone for too long, signing to the Seahawks' practice squad shortly thereafter. Seattle eventually elevated him to the active roster against the Titans and Vikings, getting him out on the field for a healthy dose of 80 total snaps between the two games. In those opportunities, he put up three combined tackles and a pressure, earning a 52.2 defensive grade from Pro Football Focus.
By elevating him a third time, the Seahawks would have been forced to expose Nkemdiche to waivers. But instead, they opted not to run the risk of losing him and signed him to the active roster on Tuesday.
“It’s really good to have him out," defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. said of Nkemdiche. "We’ve watched him early in his career coming out as a high draft choice so now the fact that we have him on our team to see who he is and how important football is to him is great. I think the more he’s around us, the more we understand how passionate he is, how much he loves the game, and how much he really wants to be good, he really cares. It’s really important to him to be a part of this team and to be an impact player.”
With Nkemdiche now present full-time and Rasheem Green off to a nice start to the year, where does that leave things with Collier? Each week, there's going to be an odd-man out—a healthy scratch—in the defensive line and so far, that's been Collier. As of now, there's no reason to think that will change.
“They are both playing the same position and Robert is really stepping up and playing a lot," Norton said of the competition between Collier and Nkemdiche. "L.J., again, our main thing around here is competition so we have two big guys competing to play so it will make them both better. ... [Collier]'s playing really hard, I think it’s good to see the champ and competitor that he is. He has a lot of confidence in himself and he’s the type of guy that’s going to keep fighting until he gets it back.”
Interestingly, the Seahawks are valuing a pair of "rentals"—players with one year left on their respective contracts—instead of Collier, who's under contract through 2022. But "club control" ultimately doesn't matter to a Seahawks team in win-now mode. It's about getting the best players out on the field and they've made it clear that Collier doesn't fall in that category in their eyes.
When Collier found himself inactive in Week 1—on his birthday, no less—head coach Pete Carroll said the TCU alum was understandably "frustrated."
"He wants to play," Carroll continued on September 15. "He can play. It’s just kind of fitting it all together. It’s a long season. He’s going to be a factor for sure down the road here if not immediately. He’s available every week. We’ll look at it all over again."
It's hard to imagine Collier's frustrations have since been alleviated given the "in-and-out" nature of his season thus far. While it's unknown if things have gotten worse since he and Carroll met in mid September, it shouldn't come as a surprise if the two sides eventually part ways within the next few weeks. This is pure speculation, however.
But if a split does occur, it's going to be by trade. Seattle is not going to outright cut its former top draft choice, even though his value is going to be fairly limited on the market. General manager John Schneider might be able to work a mid-round draft pick for him, but all that would essentially accomplish is recuperating the asset the team dealt to Jacksonville for cornerback Sidney Jones.
Perhaps the way for the Seahawks to maximize their return is by pairing a draft choice with Collier for a player at a position of need. The Chiefs, Panthers, Chargers, Jaguars, Cowboys and Patriots, among others, could all make some sense.
If this is the conclusion the Seahawks are heading for, then they must act fast. The more time that goes by, and the more healthy scratches Collier endures, the lower his value will naturally go. If they're not going to do that, then they should play him. Otherwise, they're wasting an opportunity to save face to a certain degree on another first-round failure of theirs.
