NFL Rumors: La'el Collins Receives Mass Interest for Contract, May Visit Teams Soon

Now that La'El Collins has been medically cleared to return from a knee injury that prematurely ended his 2022 season, the veteran offensive tackle is generating a lot of interest around the NFL.

Per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, there have been "about a dozen or so teams" that have made inquires to Collins and he could start taking visits soon.

Collins tore his ACL and MCL during a Week 16 win over the New England Patriots. Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer noted at the time the 30-year-old's recovery time was expected to be seven months.

On Sept. 12, the Bengals announced they released Collins after he started the season on the reserve/physically unable to perform list. He signed a three-year deal with the team as a free agent in March 2022.

The Athletic's Paul Dehner Jr. noted it wasn't necessarily a surprise that Collins was released because of his age, injury history and doing so would save the team $7.7 million against the cap, but the timing of it was odd because it came two days after the season opener.

Fowler noted Collins has $2.1 million in injury guarantees that he will collect if he doesn't play in a game this season.

Cincinnati planned for this scenario during the offseason by signing Orlando Brown Jr. as a free agent. Jonah Williams, who initially requested a trade after the Brown signing, opted to stay with the Bengals and move to right tackle.

Based on the amount of interest in Collins, there are no shortage of teams looking for help on the offensive line at this still-early stage of the regular season.

Prior to his injury last season, Collins started each of the Bengals' first 15 games. It was the first time he appeared in that many games in a single season since 2019.

Collins signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent out of LSU in 2015. He appeared in 74 games over six seasons with the Cowboys before leaving to play in Cincinnati.