Amidst Injuries, 49ers Are Pressed to Sign Former Cowboys Blocker
Due to injuries, the San Francisco 49ers are in desperate need of an offensive lineman, and La’el Collins is still available.
According to Bleacher Report, the 49ers might sign the player while guard Aaron Banks (toe) and tackles Trent Williams (groin) and Jaylon Moore (concussion) are still sidelined. Williams participated little on Wednesday and practiced on Thursday, while Moore and Banks did not practice on those days.
The staff of Bleacher Report stated, “Collins has experience playing guard and tackle, and it would be smart to have a proven veteran on hand as an insurance policy for the playoffs.”
Collins has started 86 games in his career, including three postseason games, while serving as a consistent starter for the Dallas Cowboys for four seasons. Collins was a member of the Cowboys from 2015 to 2021; in 2022, he moved to Cincinnati to play with the Bengals.
Collins injured his MCL and ACL late in the season, although he was able to play in 15 games for the Bengals the previous year. After spending time on the reserve/PUP list, the Bengals dismissed him in September, therefore his effort at a comeback this year was unsuccessful.
Cincinnati made the decision to free up $7.4 million in salary cap space. According to MassLive’s Mark Daniels in September, Collins drew interest from the New England Patriots, who happen to be the club that Collins got hurt against.
La’el Collins Declared Confidence in Reply
Collins told James Rapien, the All Bengals writer for Sports Illustrated, prior to the season that he fully intended to return to the field this year.
Collins told Rapien, “Every day, I’m able to do some different, and I can tell that my knee’s locked in there; it’s stable.” “It is not going to disappear.”
Collins continued, “I mean, every day I come in. I do a little more. I feel a little better. I get a little stronger. So we’ve just been stacking good days on top of good days.” Michael Schofield Also a 49ers Option The 49ers have other free agent options to think about in addition to Collins. Bleacher Report previously mentioned Michael Schofield III, who has 86 starts in his career and was a key member of the 2015 Denver Broncos team that won the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium. Schofield last played for the Chicago Bears in 2022.
Staff at Bleacher Report stated, “Schofield could potentially fill in for Banks or would at least be a good depth piece for San Francisco. He has experience playing every spot on the line, except for center.”
49ers’ Offensive Line Problems May Cause a Tight End to Cross Over
Charlie Woerner, the tight end, would go to the offensive line if the 49ers don’t have enough depth there on game day.
Chris Foerster, the offensive line coach and run game coordinator for the 49ers, told reporters on Thursday that “we’d have to kind of makeshift that.”
“I was telling Trent this this morning, and it’s kind of funny, because they’ve only recently gone to eight offensive linemen,” Foerster continued. “We always had eight up when I first started in the NFL, but then special teams and other things took over.”
Then we reached seven, and everything abruptly changed to seven. Foerster went on, “So you had seven and very few times—probably three times over the course of 25, 30 years—did you have to switch to playing offensive line.”
If the depth and health of the offensive line don’t improve quickly, San Francisco could have to take that course of action.
