Washington Redskins: Hold expectations on landing Landon Collins

Landon Collins appears to want nothing to do with the New York Giants at the moment. Due to that, it’s easy to get excited about the prospects of the safety joining the Washington Redskins.

There was a situation with pending free agent Landon Collins on Wednesday. After it was reported he hadn’t cleaned out his locker at the New York Giants facility, the safety tweeted that anything he left in the locker he “didn’t need”. This makes it appear as if Collins is done with the Giants and doesn’t want to be there anymore.

That being said, according to Jared Dubin of CBS Sports, the Giants will likely still franchise tag the safety. Due to that, it’s important for fans of the Washington Redskins — and other teams looking at the safety — to limit expectations when it comes to the availability of Collins

Sure, this could be the Giants wanting to get something heavy in return for him as part of a trade. It could also be them hoping they can work something out though. Even if it is to trade him, the price tag might be too hefty to consider. If that isn’t the case though (or if he ends up a free agent), the Redskins would surely be a perfect fit.

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Of course, after the news that Collins didn’t want to be in New York anymore hit, the Twitter-world went crazy — specifically, Redskins fans. The main source of mayhem was unearthing tweets from reporters talking about how Collins wanted to be in Washington before the 2015 NFL Draft.

It’s easy to get excited about the prospects of Collins in a Washington uniform, especially when considering this is a position of need for the defense. Washington bolstered their secondary with the trade for Ha Ha Clinton-Dix in 2018, but lost some power after releasing D.J. Swearinger. Clinton-Dix is also a free agent now, so there’s no guarantee he returns either.

That being said, it’s not hard to fantasize about a tandem of Clinton-Dix and Collins together at safety. Although some fans didn’t seem to happy with the play of Clinton-Dix, he was overall very solid with the team and clearly is someone they should try to bring back.

Having that duo roaming the back of the secondary would help in a lot of ways. They’re provide help to the cornerback group, and would give more time for the young and extremely talented defensive line to try to disrupt the quarterback.

Now, with Collins something to worry about is cap room. The Redskins have a lot of holes to fix and don’t have a lot of cap space to work with. This can be fixed by making a few cuts and renegotiating a few contracts, but even then, don’t expect Washington to be swimming in money. Therefore, Collins is a player they should absolutely go after, but shouldn’t break the bank for.

It’s easy for fans of the Washington Redskins to get excited about Landon Collins in their uniform. They’ve seen what he can do on a division rival, and it’s obvious he can help the team immensely. If the team is truly trying to be smart with their money though, it just might not be in the budget to get the safety. Then again, when have the Washington Redskins ever been smart with their money (Adam Archuleta, anyone?).