OT - La'el Collins (Signs with Cowboys)

Pegger · May 4, 2015

To start, I totally feel for the guy. For those that don't know he was a tackle for LSU who was regarded as a first round prospect (some mocks had him go as high as 12). Very athletically gifted with good fundamentals.

The days leading up to the draft his ex-girlfriend who was carrying their unborn child was killed. Someone knocked on her door and shot her on the torso multiple times. It is a horrible, horrible story, but at no point in time was Collins a person of interest let alone a suspect. The Baton Rouge police wanted to get a statement from Collins, but due to the draft he was unable to be there until today. His agent heard that teams have pulled him from their draft boards and tried to withdraw him from the draft, but it was too late.

The end result was Collins today met with the police and he is still not a suspect/person of interest in the murder.

All football aside, I feel for the kid. His unborn child dies and his NFL dreams of being drafted are crushed in one cruel move.

I fully understand in today's NFL why teams couldn't touch him on draft day, but I think of what that kid must have went through. The shooting happened on the 24th, so I'm assuming he heard about it on the weekend of the 25th. He was originally at Chicago planning on attending draft, but as he became undraftable he jetted back to Baton Rouge to speak to the police.

Anyway, it's not like he has to be cleared as he's not even a suspect. All the same as time passes and they find the killers I hope he lands in a good spot.

HeHateMe · May 4, 2015

Can the Bears sign him already?

bears26 · May 4, 2015

He is not a suspect at this time. Story has not changed since before the draft. Hopefully he is innocent and if so all 32 teams will be after him.

BaBaBlacksheep · May 4, 2015

The NFL should have let him remove his name from the draft. If there ever was a situation with extenuating circumstances this was it.

bearmick · May 4, 2015

No idea what happened. He might have absolutely nothing to do with it, or he could have been the one who had it done. We know absolutely nothing.

knoxville7 · May 4, 2015

bearmick said:
No idea what happened. He might have absolutely nothing to do with it, or he could have been the one who had it done. We know absolutely nothing.

it does seem somewhat odd to me that if the police are so adamant that he is not a suspect, why no teams were willing to draft him even in a late round. I mean in this country we are supposedly "innocent until proven guilty."

bears26 · May 4, 2015

knoxville7 said:
it does seem somewhat odd to me that if the police are so adamant that he is not a suspect, why no teams were willing to draft him even in a late round. I mean in this country we are supposedly "innocent until proven guilty."

and his attorney used the word "think" he will not be a suspect. Not necessarily out of the woods yet.

didshereallysaythat · May 4, 2015

If he files grievance against the NFL, it is possible that he could still enter the supplemental draft.

If he does enter, what round would you draft him? Remember, if you are granted him, you have to give up that round the next year. So if we took him round 1, we would lose next years 1st round pick. We wouldn't go that high obviously.

didshereallysaythat · May 4, 2015

bearmick said:
No idea what happened. He might have absolutely nothing to do with it, or he could have been the one who had it done. We know absolutely nothing.

That is true. Just because if it is proven he was not at the scene at the time of the murder, he still could have "hired" it.

bearmick · May 4, 2015

knoxville7 said:
it does seem somewhat odd to me that if the police are so adamant that he is not a suspect, why no teams were willing to draft him even in a late round. I mean in this country we are supposedly "innocent until proven guilty."

Until everything is out and cleared up ,no teams are going to want to touch that shit with a 20 foot pole.

I feel bad for him if he's innocent, though I do question the decision he and his agent made about telling teams not to draft him later in the draft because he won't sign.

With the Hernandez situation specifically and domestic violence in general being such a big issue in the NFL lately, I think teams just decided it wasn't worth it.

TheDane · May 4, 2015

knoxville7 said:
I mean in this country we are supposedly "innocent until proven guilty."

You'd like to be, but as soon as there's speculation about your person, as there is about Collins now, it's damn near impossible to get rid of that speculation. Even if Collins gets 100% exonerated, there's always going to be people that remember him as the guy who may or may not have been involved in this gruesome murder. Ben Roethlisberger wasn't charged with rape, but yet he's still called a rapist by a lot of people.

knoxville7 · May 4, 2015

didshereallysaythat said:
If he files grievance against the NFL, it is possible that he could still enter the supplemental draft.

If he does enter, what round would you draft him? Remember, if you are granted him, you have to give up that round the next year. So if we took him round 1, we would lose next years 1st round pick. We wouldn't go that high obviously.

if he truly is innocent then I would have no issue with the bears using a 2nd on him

Pegger · May 4, 2015

knoxville7 said:
it does seem somewhat odd to me that if the police are so adamant that he is not a suspect, why no teams were willing to draft him even in a late round. I mean in this country we are supposedly "innocent until proven guilty."

The reason why they are so adament is that it relates to an ongoing murder investigation and they are very limited as to what they can and cannot say.

Is he innocent? Too early to tell.
Is he guilty? Too early to tell.
Is he a suspect at this time? No.

knoxville7 · May 4, 2015

TheDane said:
You'd like to be, but as soon as there's speculation about your person, as there is about Collins now, it's damn near impossible to get rid of that speculation. Even if Collins gets 100% exonerated, there's always going to be people that remember him as the guy who may or may not have been involved in this gruesome murder. Ben Roethlisberger wasn't charged with rape, but yet he's still called a rapist by a lot of people.

I get where you are coming from, but the big ben comparison is a pretty bad one. ben was at least accused of the crime people associate with him. so far Collins has not been accused by anyone yet that I know of even. all he is guilty of so far that we know about is his ex gf dying

I mean, why would he choose right around the draft to kill or have his ex gf killed? thatd be a pretty dumb timeframe to have it done don't you think?

didshereallysaythat · May 4, 2015

knoxville7 said:
I get where you are coming from, but the big ben comparison is a pretty bad one. ben was at least accused of the crime people associate with him. so far Collins has not been accused by anyone yet that I know of even. all he is guilty of so far that we know about is his ex gf dying

I mean, why would he choose right around the draft to kill or have his ex gf killed? thatd be a pretty dumb timeframe to have it done don't you think?

True, but it is stupid for anyone to kill anyone. So no matter what, someone did something incredibly stupid and horrible.

TheDane · May 4, 2015

knoxville7 said:
I get where you are coming from, but the big ben comparison is a pretty bad one. ben was at least accused of the crime people associate with him. so far Collins has not been accused by anyone yet that I know of even. all he is guilty of so far that we know about is his ex gf dying

I mean, why would he choose right around the draft to kill or have his ex gf killed? thatd be a pretty dumb timeframe to have it done don't you think?

That is true. Horrible comparison, actually :lol: but you got what I was trying to say, I think.

Pegger · May 4, 2015

bearmick said:
Until everything is out and cleared up ,no teams are going to want to touch that shit with a 20 foot pole.

I feel bad for him if he's innocent, though I do question the decision he and his agent made about telling teams not to draft him later in the draft because he won't sign.

With the Hernandez situation specifically and domestic violence in general being such a big issue in the NFL lately, I think teams just decided it wasn't worth it.

I fully agree, but I also agree with his agents stance of refusing to sign a later round contract. If he has nothing to do with the murder he'll get what should be a late frist round contract. That's decent money that will change his family's life. If some team takes a 7th round flyer on him and after 3 seasons he has to retire due to concussions he can't even support himself, let alone his family.

I'm assuming he's innocent and things will play itself out. I'm also thinking how horrible of a 10 day period that must have been for the young man. His unborn child dies, his draft dreams are crushed and some people are actually speculating he had a hand in his ex-girlfriend's death.

DC · May 4, 2015

At this point if he would have been drafted as he should have been, he could have been clearing his head in Hawaii. If he's innocent that's tough.

SweetHomeChicago · May 4, 2015

He is not a suspect nor is he a person of interest. I think that is a little bit telling at least. He is likely innocent imo, but you can't be sure.