Washington Football Team strong safety Landon Collins was moved to a position that sounds an awful lot like linebacker by coach Ron Rivera but wasn’t told if the move is permanent.
While speaking to media after Thursday’s practice, Collins elaborated on his stance that he is a safety, but will be playing more downhill from “the box” as coach Ron Rivera has said.
Landon Collins on his move to LB. Does he likes it and how it was presented to him? #WashingtonFootball #NFl @SportsJourney pic.twitter.com/1OARru9XyA
— Lake Lewis Jr (@LakeLewis) October 21, 2021
In his weekly press conference with media after a recent practice, Rivera mentioned that Collins would indeed be making a move to ‘the box’ but still didn’t say the position of linebacker as the former Alabama star’s new home.
“I think a lot of it is perception and expectations. But you watch the way he played last week. You watch the things he did, his physicality, the plays he helped make in the game,” Rivera said about Collins. “And as I said the other day, he has a good role. And the role we used in him is something we feel strongly about his abilities. He’s a downhill, attacking style of player, and we got to make sure we’re putting him in position to have success for us. A great example was when they ran that reverse. He was down in the box, he saw it coming, he got outside to contain, turned it back inside and was part of the pileup that helped create the takeaway. Those are the things that he flashes and shows that he’s capable of doing. That’s why, going into last week’s game, based on the matchups, we felt strongly about playing him up in the box.”
Rivera and Collins did have a conversation about the new role.
“I did have a conversation with him about it, and he was very professional about it,” Rivera went on to say. “He and I talked about it, and one of the things he expressed is he’s a safety. He loves playing safety. One of the things I expressed to him is we really believe he’s a downhill player. He’s an impact guy attacking at the line of scrimmage.
Collins has struggled in coverage for most of his time since signing a six-year, $84,000,000 contract with Washington, including a $15,000,000 signing bonus, $44,500,000 is guaranteed. His annual salary averages $14,000,000.
While in New York with the Giants, Collins was a 2x Pro Bowler but has not lived up to his massive salary since joining Washington. He’s worked his way back from an Achilles injury suffered early in last year’s campaign.
Over his three seasons in Washington, Collins has amassed 197 tackles, three sacks, and one interception. Overall, his best season came in New York in 2016 when he posted 125 tackles, four sacks, and five interceptions.
The move to play close to the line-of-scrimmage could be Washington’s last-ditch effort to find out what they have in Collins as a player.