Jameis Winston is aggressively recruiting former LSU standout offensive lineman La’El Collins to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to Yahoo! Sports NFL Insider Rand Getlin.
Who's recruiting La'el Collins most aggressively? #Bucs QB Jameis Winston is right up there. Pushing hard for Collins to come to Tampa Bay.
— Rand Getlin (@Rand_Getlin) May 5, 2015
Winston has reached out to Collins multiple times in the last 24 hours selling the idea of playing together. #Bucs could certainly use him.
— Rand Getlin (@Rand_Getlin) May 5, 2015
Collins, of course, was fully expected to hear his name called last Thursday evening during the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft. That all changed a week ago, when the 6-foot-5, 305-pound guard/offensive tackle left the draft in Chicago to try to clear his name in the murder of his ex-girlfriend.
Collins, who is not a suspect in the investigation, met with Baton Rouge police homicide detectives for over an hour on Monday and answered all of the questions from police, but he’s still waiting for his name to be cleared.
But that hasn’t prevented teams from aggressively pursuing Collins, as he’s reportedly received interest from “almost every” team since the conclusion of the draft.
He also had dinner with Bills head coach Rex Ryan Monday night and is scheduled to meet with the Dolphins next. And NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport also reports that several former LSU teammates and current Dolphins players are recruiting Collins to Miami on their own without any team decision-makers present.
Some #Dolphins & ex-#LSU teammates are trying to recruit La’El Collins today. No Dolphins employees to be present. Players went on their own
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 5, 2015
Collins won’t be able to make more than the max UDFA signing bonus of just under $100,000, so his decision to sign will boil down to his role and fit with the team and how well he’s recruited.
Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith has a history of rolling the dice on players with off-the-field concerns. Though the team used two second round picks on offensive linemen (Penn State OT Donovan Smith with the No. 34 overall pick and Hobart interior OL Ali Marpet at No. 61 overall), Collins is a superior talent to both prospects.
Jameis Winston would obviously love to have Collins protecting him, but he’s got his work cut out for him in his recruiting efforts, as Collins could likely step in as a day-one starter with any team in the NFL.
The post Report: Jameis Winston Aggressively Recruiting La’El Collins To Bucs appeared first on GridironGrit.com.