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The Dallas Cowboys were forced to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers without starting right guard Zack Martin, who is on the COVID / Reserve roster after testing positive, and could now be without another starting offensive lineman for a much longer period. La’el Collins, the club’s definitive right tackle holder, has been suspended for five games for violating league drug addiction policy – according to CBS Sports sources – dealing a heavy blow to Dallas’ offensive front. Because while Martin will likely be on the field for Week 2 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Collins’ suspension could put him on the sidelines for Week 6.
Collins can appeal the decision and request either an annulment or a reduction, but this will be in the hands or an umpire, who has already ruled in favor of the league but there is an additional right of appeal that Collins has under the collective agreement that sources say he intends to sue. In other words, it’s not final yet, so put a pin on it for now, and the Cowboys having a mini-bye week before facing the Chargers are giving extra days to sort everything out.
The league alleges Collins missed mandatory drug tests, compared to testing negative for an illegal substance. Details continue to come in on the matter, including why it is five games instead of four or six, which further muddies the charges.
Until the case is resolved, it will be backup swing tackles Ty Nsekhe and Terence Steele carrying the water to the right tackle, and that’s a big drop from what Collins does in position. Nsekhe was signed for a year in free agency ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft, and Steele is a former undrafted free agent who struggled mightily as a rookie in 2020 – also having failed to show much progress in the draft. this year’s training camp or preseason. This creates a void on the right edge past Prescott, and with a set of very capable defensive fronts to come over the next five games. Nsehke himself struggled in the preseason before running out of time with a knee injury, but the team say he is 100% healthy and now has to hope he can be a good starter for them, what they have struggled to locate in recent seasons.
They dabbled in moving Martin to the right tackle in 2020, placing Connor McGovern as the starting right-wing keeper (as they did Thursday night with McGovern), but taking Martin out remains a decision to “break the glass in the event of a ’emergency’ in Dallas. The problem, however, is that it looks like this: an emergency.
As such, it could be discussed, but probably not until / unless they are forced into this move by bad play in Nsekhe and Steele’s next two games. If he were to take the full brunt of the suspension, it would be a pretty unpleasant start to the season for a player who hasn’t taken a single shot in 2020 due to injury.
Collins struggled with neck pricks that threatened to keep him out of the season opener, but he managed to beat them and now must figure out how to do the same with the league front office, or l The team will not see him again until he is cleared to return and prepare for their clash with the Minnesota Vikings on October 31.
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