La'el Collins reportedly gets huge two-year extension from Cowboys

The former undrafted free agent is about to get a huge raise

By John Breech

Jul 25, 2017 at 6:22 pm ET • 2 min read

La'el Collins is finally about to get paid.

According to NFL.com, Collins and the Cowboys have agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension that will pay the offensive lineman a total of $15.4 million, including a $4 million signing bonus.

CBSSports.com NFL insider Jason La Canfora reports that the true total value of the deal will slightly exceed $16 million over the next three seasons.

Sorry - true value on Collins deal is $16.02M over 3 years - two new years plus this season.
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) July 25, 2017

The new deal will keep Collins in Dallas through the end of the 2019 season. The new deal also means Collins will be getting a huge raise.

As a rookie in 2015, Collins signed a three-year, $1.6 million with Cowboys after going undrafted. Although Collins was once projected to go somewhere in the top 20 of the NFL Draft, he ended up falling completely out of the draft after being named a person of interest in a murder investigation.

At the time, Collins was scheduled to attend the draft, but he left before the event started so that he could speak with police in Louisiana. Although he was never a suspect, NFL teams avoided Collins because of the circumstances of the case.

After going undrafted, Collins signed with the Cowboys for a contract that averaged out to $533,000 per year. To put that in perspective, the 20th overall pick from the 2015 draft signed a four-year deal worth $9.4 million. Basically, Collins' fall from grace cost him some serious money.

Not only are the Cowboys giving Collins a huge raise, but they're making him one of the top paid players at his position. For the 2017 season, Collins will be making the move to right tackle after spending his first two seasons as a left guard.

Only one right tackle -- Detroit's Ricky Wagner -- currently has a contract that pays more than the $7.7 million average that Collins will make in 2018 and '19. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, there's also a $2 million escalator clause in the deal that Collins can hit if he plays in 85 percent of the Cowboys' offensive snaps.

Now that they've paid him, the Cowboys will be hoping that Collins can stay healthy. The 23-year-old, who turns 24 on Wednesday, missed a total of 13 games in 2016 after he was placed on injured reserve with a toe injury.

On the other hand, even if he is healthy, Collins could be in for a tough 2017 season anyway.