Mystery Solved: ESPN says Cowboys’ Collins tried to bribe drug tester, reason for weird-length suspension
All along, something has seemed fishy about the suspension of Dallas Cowboys’ right tackle La’el Collins. Banned from participating for five games due to a substance abuse issue, those with knowledge of the protocol were puzzled at the amount of games chosen. Mixed in were reports that Collins had already appealed the suspension, but was appealing again and things got even more confusing.
On Saturday night, ESPN confirmed that Collins had attempted to bribe a drug test collector for the league and that’s why he got the weird length of banishment from his team. It appears that the NFLPA had successfully negotiated a shorter ban, but Collins insisted on an appeal and when the case was put in front of an arbitrator, he overruled the lightening of the sentence and re-established the five-game ban.
Collins already missed Week 2 and will be ineligible to return until after Dallas’ bye week, when they travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings on October 31.
The NFL’s protocol for failed or missed drug tests is a concrete escalation process, which is why many were flummoxed by the five-game ban as Collins had never been suspended before.
Collins is suspended for missing as many as seven tests, for which he argued he has legitimate excuses for, including when strength and conditioning coach Markus Paul collapsed in the team facility in front of many players. Paul later passed away from the incident. Another time was when Collins says he was attending the funeral of an uncle.
On the surface it appears the NFL had been lenient with Collins through the missed tests, because by letter of the law, seven missed tests would have already resulted in fines for the first three, then suspensions of three games, four games and eight games for missed tests four through six. A seventh missed test is supposed to result in a ban of at least one year.
But Collins had never missed a game due to suspension, which makes his refusal to accept a negotiated down two-game ban harder to reconcile without more information. Neither the NFL nor the NFLPA commented to ESPN about the process.
Dallas started second-year offensive tackle Terence Steele in Collins’ place in Week 2 and he acquitted himself relatively well against the Los Angeles Chargers and stud defensive end Joey Bosa. The star was held without a sack or even a QB hit thanks to help from Zack Martin and tight ends.
The Cowboys are a bit thin at the position as swing tackle Ty Nsekhe suffered a heat-related illness prior to the Week 2 game and continues to be held out after an overnight hospital stay. Dallas still has fourth-round pick Josh Ball on returnable IR for at least one more game. Behind Steele sits Brandon Knight, who has essentially been made a four-position backup and Martin, who shifted outside for two games in the 2020 season.
Collins absence is definitely hurting the Cowboys’ depth, which will continue to be tested. At least now there is a concrete report out there as to why things were handled in a different manner than what is outlined by the collective bargaining agreement.
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