Veteran offensive lineman La’el Collins is hoping that he can turn his career around following a horrible, yet brief, tenure with the Cincinnati Bengals that led to an unceremonious departure and a short return to the Dallas Cowboys, where he made his mark earlier in his career, that resulted in no playing time.
Collins, 30, is now looking at his new opportunity with the Buffalo Bills to get his career back on track. Collins’ career was interrupted by ACL and MCL tears, and now is hoping that he can recapture the success he enjoyed during his first run with the Cowboys.
“That’s a tough picture to put yourself in,” Collins said (via Jonathan Acosta of WGRZ2). “To deal with an injury that’s as traumatic as tearing your knee, it’s something you can’t really explain. I felt like last year, I maybe could’ve put myself in a position to play some football, but I knew mentally that the tank was empty.
“That was tough days,” he continued. “That was days where you have 70,000 thoughts in your head running crazy, telling you you might not be good enough. You might not come back.”
Health is the primary concern with Collins, who said that he is still in the process of getting his knee back to 100%, so all eyes will be on him when the Bills open training camp.
