Washington Redskins add Landon Collins to Alabama hoard
The Washington Redskins are sticking it to their division rivals in New York, signing Giants safety Landon Collins to a record-breaking deal.
The Washington Redskins entered the first wave of free agency with just under $13 million in cap space.
Why not sign Landon Collins to the richest deal for a safety in NFL history, then?
The #Redskins’ deal for Landon Collins is a 6-year deal worth $84M with $45M guaranteed and paid out over the first three years, source said. From the #Giants to their rival.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 11, 2019
The Collins signing was first reported by ESPN’s Josina Anderson.
To be clear, no deals can be officially signed until Wednesday, but Collins and the Redskins apparently have come to an agreement to make the former Alabama star and second-round pick a very rich man.
The Redskins were also among the teams rumored to be interested in Baltimore Ravens linebacker CJ Mosley, and it’s become abundantly clear in recent years that this team is hellbent on becoming the literal Alabama Crimson Tide of the NFL.
On their roster right now, the Redskins have:
Jonathan Allen
Ryan Anderson
Shaun Dion Hamilton
Da’Ron Payne
Reuben Foster
Arie Kouandjio
Cam Sims
They also made a midseason trade in 2018 for former Alabama safety Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix.
Now the Redskins have Collins, and are well on their way to putting together a starting 11 on defense of strictly former Alabama players.
In all seriousness, this move could really come back to bite both the Redskins and the Giants. Paying a safety more than $14 million per season is unheard of in the NFL, and this move certainly re-sets the market for players at this position.
Collins is considered more of a ‘box safety’ but that’s not entirely true. He has excelled playing deep free safety when called upon.
For the Giants, it wasn’t a good decision to let this kind of player go. On the other hand, they can recoup a third-round draft pick in 2020 now depending on what they do the rest of free agency.
For the Redskins, is Collins really worth that price tag to your defense? They are clearly going to try to win with a great defense with Alex Smith out for 2019 and Case Keenum coming in via trade.
Next. Most obvious free agent fits for all 32 teams. dark
Washington is going to have to clear cap space in some other ways but they have made their seemingly annual big splash.