Former Cowboys OT La’el Collins says he reached point where he wasn’t getting the things he needed

The Dallas Cowboys are getting set to host an old friend on Sunday in Cincinnati Bengals tackle La’el Collins. Lost in the headlines is the fact that cornerback Chidobe Awuzie is making his return as well.

Perhaps Awuzie is getting a bit less attention because this is not his first season away from Dallas. Awuzie was a part of the Bengals team that made it to the Super Bowl a year ago and during the week leading up to it he had an interesting comment about how upon joining the Bengals he learned very quickly what it took to build a winning football team and referenced more of a blue-collar nature surrounding that franchise.

It is no secret that the Cowboys are a glitz and glamour franchise as they have just about any sort of amenity that an NFL team could seemingly need. In meeting with the media this week, La’el Collins just about said that the Cowboys did not have something he needed.

La’el Collins says he reached a point in his career where he wasn’t getting the things that he needed

Collins’ return is a big talking point for Sunday’s game between Dallas and Cincinnati, it was one of the core parts of our conversation about the contest with our friends from Cincy Jungle.

Collins met with the media this week and he was asked if he thought he would be playing in Dallas this season when last season ended. The ensuing back and forth was a bit interesting.

This doesn’t sound like a shot at the Cowboys, but Collins is straight up saying that he wasn’t getting something that he needed. He referenced current Bengals and former Cowboys offensive line coach Frank Pollack who Collins worked with for part of his time here.

Where this situation is a bit different from Awuzie’s is that the former was released by the Cowboys while the latter just had his contract expired with the team and hit true free agency. In terms of what literally happened the Cowboys chose to move on from Collins in a way that they didn’t with Awuzie.

But Collins mentions wanting to be coached hard and sort of implies that this didn’t happen or he was ready for it to happen more to a degree. Joe Philbin has been a subject of criticism from Cowboys fans for the way the current offensive line has played, perhaps Collins had an issue with him.