Washington Football Team: Five players to watch in Week 5 vs. Rams
3. S Landon Collins
This season, the back-seven of the Washington defense has had some surprise players step up and become contributors, but one problem spot for the team has been safety. Troy Apke has absorbed the brunt of the criticism at the position but his running mate, Landon Collins, hasn’t been good this year either.
In just his second year of a six-year, $84 million deal, Collins isn’t looking anything like the solid safety that Washington saw last year. Known as more of a downhill playmaker and run stopper, Collins added a needed tackling element to the team’s defense. This year, however, tackling has actually been an issue for him.
So far this season, Collins has missed a whopping nine tackles on 31 tackle attempts. That’s not only bad, but it matches the total amount of missed tackles he had last year on 105 tackle attempts. The clear regression in this area has been a problem for Collins and it’s one that he’ll need to fix ASAP.
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Of course, it’s worth noting that the lack of a preseason could’ve impacted his adjustment back to game speed, so that could explain some of the tackling issues. Still, we’re now four games into the season and the issues have been persisting, and they were especially problematic against the Ravens when he whiffed on a chance to stop Lamar Jackson on a 50-yard touchdown run.
At this point, there’s simply no excuse for missing makeable tackles. Sure, one here or there happens, but one of the highest-paid safeties in the league cannot be missing on nearly 30 percent of his tackle attempts.
Collins will need to fix this on Sunday to help slow down the Rams’ multi-faceted running game. It will also help for Washington to limit gains over the middle of the field by talented slot receiver Cooper Kupp and big-bodied tight end Tyler Higbee. Collins doing this will be key to Washington competing, so he needs to be watched closely. And if he struggles again, the team may have to re-think how they’re using him on the field.