Ranking the Dallas Cowboys 10 best players on the roster

5. La’el Collins, Right Tackle

Dallas already had three first-round picks on their offensive line yet they somehow landed one of the best prospects in the 2015 NFL Draft — without even using a draft pick. La’el Collins was a star at LSU but right as the draft approached, he was questioned in the death of a pregnant woman and while he was never considered a suspect, it was enough to get teams to skip past him in the draft.

Once it became official that Collins was not a suspect, he began to look for his NFL home and landed with the Cowboys. At the time, the team was set at tackle with Tyron Smith and Doug Free handling the job. That meant he would move to guard and play in between Smith and Travis Frederic — another first-round pick.

Collins was a great fit here due to his mixture of power and athleticism. Once Free retired following the 2016 season, Collins moved to right tackle and while he struggled at first, he ended up finding his footing and developed into a star.

This past season, Collins received a grade of 86.2 by Pro Football Focus (subscription required) and was ranked the No. 5 tackle overall. According to the people over at PFF, Collins really stood out as a run blocker but he was still solid at holding off the pass rushers.

There used to be this strong belief that right tackle wasn’t as important of a position as the left. Recently, that narrative has started to shift as the importance of both sides has been highlighted. For Dallas, they know how important it is to have a capable tackle on both sides and they made this a priority — which is why they find themselves with two stars as their offensive line bookends.