Dallas Cowboys: La’el Collins move to guard should follow Cameron Fleming signing

After signing a potential starting right tackle in Cameron Fleming, the Dallas Cowboys should move La’el Collins back to left guard

Well suddenly the snail-paced offseason for the Dallas Cowboys is covering some ground. They finally made a move by trading for fullback Jamize Olawale, which was promptly followed by signing linebacker Joe Thomas and wide receiver Deonte Thompson.

Those moves didn’t move the needle as much as the Allen Hurns signing that followed, which could alter their receiving corps. Dallas continued to make smart, efficient moves even after the Hurns pick up as they now reportedly will be bringing on former New England offensive tackle Cameron Fleming.

At first glance, this seems like a solid depth piece that will fix their wretched swing-tackle position from a season ago. However, that may not be the smartest play. Instead, Dallas could be best served to give Fleming a chance to start at right tackle, while moving the player currently occupying that position, La’el Collins, back to left guard — where he played the first two seasons of his career.

Collins showed a lot of promise at that position, but struggled with the move out wide in 2017. He was much better as a guard, and Dallas could benefit from putting both Fleming and Collins on the field. Sports writer Shane Carter pointed out that Fleming has surrendered just 7.5 sacks in four seasons — whereas Collins gave up five in 2017. However, as a guard, Collins was clean and never surrendered a sack.

Of course the sample sizes for each are small as Collins only started 14 games at the position before a toe injury ended his second season, but there’s no denying he looked better as a rookie guard than he did a first-year tackle.

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An argument against such a move would be that Collins has already had to change positions once in his career. However, that doesn’t hold water as there’s simply no reason to keep a guy at  a position where his play is inferior simply for the sake of avoiding change.

The fact is simple, Collins and Fleming both in the starting lineup makes this offensive line much better than they were a season ago.