‘There’s Never a Good Time’ – Cincinnati Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor on Cutting La’el Collins

The Cincinnati Bengals on Tuesday cut eight-year veteran tackle La’el Collins on Tuesday in somewhat of a surprising move given the timing of it.

Zac Taylor Says ‘It’s Tough’ in Letting Go of La’el Collins

Collins seemingly was progressing in his rehab from the ACL/MCL tears he suffered Christmas Eve at New England, and if moving on from Collins’ salary was part of a plan, the team could have released him two weeks earlier on cutdown day rather than placing him on the reserve/physically unable to perform (PUP) list.

Was it related to his rehab and recovery? Is it salary related, with the cap savings offsetting the added 2023 costs from Joe Burrow’s new contract?

Was it something else?

Head coach Zac Taylor didn’t want to get into the specifics behind the decision. He simply outlined how difficult the move was for him.

Zac on releasing La’el Collins pic.twitter.com/9QUiEiBjbz

— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) September 13, 2023

“It’s tough,” Taylor said. “There’s never a great time, you know. He worked really hard for us, and have a lot of respect for LC and the way he went about his business. And obviously gave us some really good snaps last year until the injury. Enjoy being around LC, and he’s one of those guys that just loves ball, and you enjoy being around him.

“Never a great time,” Taylor added. “That was a tough one. It sucks when you ever tell a guy like that ‘bye.'”

It was expected that Collins, once healthy, would have held down the swing tackle role and possibly could have been the first man in had a guard sustained an injury.

His departure means the swing tackle job currently belongs to 2021 fourth-round pick D’Ante Smith, who worked his way ahead of 2021 second-rounder Jackson Carman this summer.

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“D’Ante had a good camp for us,” Taylor said. “And so as we continue to develop guys like D’Ante and Jackson and those guys that can give us good tackle reps if needed, we’re feeling good about our depth there.”

The Bengals list Cody Ford, a March free agent acquisition, as a guard on their depth chart, but he’s played tackle at both of his previous stops in Arizona and Buffalo.

“He can play both,” Taylor said. “He can play guard. He’s gotten reps to tackle. Again, another guy that we thought had a really good camp.”