Saquon Barkley catches a checkdown from Eli Manning in the right flat … and is leveled by Redskins box safety Landon Collins.
Collins signing a blockbuster six-year, $84 million deal with $45 million guaranteed over the first three years from the Redskins is the worst possible nightmare for Giants fans still up in arms that Dave Gettleman allowed him to walk out the Big Blue door.
Just what Barkley and Manning and Pat Shurmur need: an angry, motivated Collins looking to stick it to their GM who didn’t think he was worth a one-year, $11.15 million tag.
You will now hear Collins tell us about what an honor it was wearing No. 21 — one of the late Redskin Sean Taylor’s numbers — as a Giant.
“I feel like that’s the armor,” Collins told ESPN two years ago. “I’m wearing his armor. When I put that number on, I’m always representing him in any form or fashion. I try to do my best by it.”
Collins wore No. 26 at Alabama as a tribute to Taylor, who wore the number at Miami (Fla.). Collins cried when he learned of Taylor’s shooting in 2007.
“I idolized Sean Taylor for his physical play, his passion for the game, you could see it every time he touched the field,” Collins said at the 2015 NFL combine, “and I like being physical in the box.”
The Redskins don’t have a big-time quarterback (Case Keenum, Colt McCoy). What they do have now is a big-time enforcer on defense and a big-time leader in their locker room.
And can’t you just picture an angry, motivated Collins dropping into coverage to pick off a Manning underthrow, if only to send a message to Gettleman that he can be more than a box safety when not hampered by injury?
And — if Odell Beckham Jr. is not traded to the 49ers — you might be able to picture Collins laying the wood to him on a slant across the middle of the field.
Collins joins a remarkable stable of former Alabama players on the Redskins roster (Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Reuben Foster, Ryan Anderson, free agent safety Ha Ha Clinton Dix, Cam Sims).
Redskins cornerback Josh Norman, who had his franchise tag rescinded in 2016 as a Panther by then-Carolina GM Gettleman before signing a five-year, $75 million deal ($50 million guaranteed) with the Redskins that made him the top-paid corner, couldn’t resist tweeting: “In ‘Gettleman’ WE Trust (All-DBs) securing the 💰🤑💰[money bag emoji, money-mouth face emoji, money bag emoji].”
It was a sentiment echoed across defensive backs’ Twitter feeds around the NFL. Jags cornerback Jalen Ramsey: “So a ‘box safety’ getting corner money now … it’s time to keep moving this market! Ballers get paid!”
Collins’ annual average value of $14 million per year tops Eric Berry’s $13 million and is tied for the fifth-most for any defensive back, pending Earl Thomas’ free-agent bonanza.
Gettleman would be the first to tell you this stunning deal borders on fiscal irresponsibility. But $11.115 million for one year did not.
That locker that Collins cleaned out in East Rutherford? He’ll need a second locker to stash the cash the Redskins just threw at him. This isn’t Buyer Beware … as much as it is Giants Beware.