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The Washington Football Team is in need of help at linebacker and Landon Collins is willing to answer the call despite him extensive history playing safety instead.
But just because he’s willing to do it doesn’t mean he wants to play the position for very long.
“I’m a team player,” Collins said, via Peter Hailey of NBC Sports Washington. “Do I like playing down there? I’m good at it. If I’m good at it, I’ll play there. If I need to be played there, cool. Other than that, do I like playing linebacker? No. No I don’t. I don’t like hitting big linemen, getting big linemen off me. I’m undersized for being a linebacker. So yeah, I don’t want to play down there, but if need to, yeah, I’ll do so. I’m good at it.”
The Football Team is short-handed at the position with Jon Bostic currently on injured reserve. While the team can turn to a combination of Kamren Curl, Deshazor Everett and Troy Apke to man the safety spots with Collins bumped into the box, they are more vulnerable with their depth at linebacker.
Cole Holcomb and Jamin Davis remain in place as starters with David Mayo as a veteran option to fill Bostic’s role, the depth of Khaleke Hudson and Jordan Kunaszyk is quite green. They have combined for just 69 total defensive snaps between them during their careers. So trying Collins out at linebacker is a move of necessity and not necessarily pure desire by Washington.
Collins knows the team is in a bind at the moment and willing to step forward for that reason. However, he’s clear that he still sees himself as a safety and that playing linebacker is not a purely natural transition.
“I’ve made more plays at safety than I’ve ever made at linebacker,” Collins said. “I know what to read, I know how to play it, I know where I can cheat at, I know where to disguise it, I know how to make things work.”
Washington will face the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
