Cowboys free agent news: Defensive tackle Maliek Collins joining Las Vegas Raiders

The Dallas Cowboys have a lot of positions that they need to work on these days and defensive tackle is at the very top of the list. The Cowboys invested their first selection in the 2019 draft at that position when they used a second-round pick on Trysten Hill.

Things have yet to materialize fully with Hill, but the Cowboys have gotten decent production out of different defensive tackles in recent memory. Rod Marinelli has turned different players into legitimate studs and helped them earn big contracts elsewhere.

Maliek Collins is headed to the Las Vegas Raiders

Cowboys fans everywhere were stunned on Tuesday afternoon when word broke that Jason Witten is headed to join the Las Vegas Raiders. He is not the only Cowboy trading in his silver and blue for silver and black.

It appears that Maliek Collins really liked the influence that Rod Marinelli had on his career to this point as he wants to continue playing under him. Marinelli is now in charge of the defensive line for the Las Vegas Raiders, working under Jon Gruden once again, and he now has Collins with him.

Collins was part of the 2016 Cowboys Draft that netted the organization players like Ezekiel Elliott, Jaylon Smith, and Dak Prescott. He was certainly a solid player over the first four years of his career, but sometimes things just reach their end.

Time will tell whether Collins follows the path of other Marinelli-led defensive tackles in new homes. It didn’t really work out all too well for Jason Hatcher in Washington or Henry Melton in Tampa Bay, but all the best to Maliek Collins in what comes next.