One of the big departures this offseason for the New York Giants was undoubtedly that of Landon Collins, one of the team’s leading tacklers in addition to being a defensive captain and key member of the secondary. Replacing Collins isn’t an easy job and it’s easy to wonder if the new safety duo for the Giants, Jabrill Peppers and Antoine Bethea, will be able to fill the shadow that they find themselves in.
There’s been various theories for why the Giants let Collins walk away in free agency. Some might claim that it was purely a financial move while others say that the Giants likely didn’t want to risk paying a player who has suffered from injuries, or that Collins is no longer a good scheme fit for the Giants.
However, we haven’t heard too much directly from Collins himself about his feelings on the exit. That’s changed now, with Collins talking to NJ Advance Media about his feelings on leaving the team.
“I’m starting a new chapter and I’m on a good team. When I left the Giants, I was kind of heartbroken. I loved the Giants. When I started there, I wanted to finish there. I wanted to be one of those guys to finish his career on one team. They didn’t give me the opportunity to do that. It’s a business. I can’t do anything about that,” Collins said.
It’s common knowledge that the Giants didn’t do much in contract negotiations with Collins, leading to the belief for most of the 2018 season that the team was going to use the franchise tag on him. However, time passed after the window to use the franchise tag opened and nothing happened, and soon enough, that window had closed and the Giants hadn’t made the move.
But it’s also common knowledge now that Landon Collins wouldn’t have played under the franchise tag, contradicting earlier statements, which could have been a large part of the reason why it was never used on him.
Regardless, Collins is now on the Redskins and the New York Giants have moved on to other players at the position, no matter what the actual reasons behind those decisions were. Collins claims that the Giants never tried to sign him, but other factors such as the large amount that Collins and the Redskins agreed to as well as Collins’ desire to not play under the franchise tag make it seem like that might not be the fault of the Giants organization.