Kansas City Chiefs: Under-the-radar free agents to consider

Jalen Collins, CB

Jalen Collins was a polarizing prospect coming out of LSU in the 2015 draft. He was projected to be a first-round pick that year even with his mediocre college stats. He finished his three seasons with the Tigers with 90 tackles, three interceptions, and 11 passes defended. A week before the draft news leaked that Collins had failed multiple drug tests while at LSU.

This hurt Collins’ draft stock which made him fall to the second round where the Atlanta Falcons decided to take a chance on him. Collins’ first season in the NFL went smoothly, when he played in all 16 games that year and started in two. His second season was a lot rockier; he was suspended for the first four games for violating the league PED policy.

After returning from his suspension, he eventually filled in for an injured Desmond Trufant who eventually ended up on IR. Collins played in eight games that season and recorded 31 tackles, ten passes defended, and two interceptions. After the terrible start to the year, Collins finished strong and looked like he was going to be an integral part of the defense going forward. After the season Collins has suspended an additional ten games for once again violating the NFL PED policy. Once he was able to return in 2017, the Falcons released him, stating that they already had enough cornerback depth and he was no longer needed.

Andy Reid is known for taking in reclamation projects such as Collins. Even with the recent Marcus Peters trade, I think Reid would not mind taking on a guy like Collins. With him being a Kansas City native the change of scenery could do him good. Add in a secondary group that will all be competing for a chance to start and proves themselves Collins could be an excellent cheap singing that could easily be cut in training camp if he was unable to show he was ready to make football his number one priority.