Bills' La'el Collins on comeback: 'I’m ready to go dominate'

La’el Collins was on a powerful trajectory as one of the top young talents in the NFL at his position when he signed a multi-year pact with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2022 coming off his ascension in the league as a Dallas Cowboy.

Then a season-ending ACL and MCL injury struck the offensive tackle, and a lengthy recovery period followed.

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The Bills signed him to a one-year deal this offseason, and the 30-year-old has one goal in mind in his return to football.

“To dominate,” Collins said to WGRZ Channel 2.

In joining Buffalo, Collins will have the opportunity to do just that both individually should he return to form and crack the offensive line rotation, and also as a team.

The Bills themselves were dominant against the Cowboys last season, the club Collins’ spent the first years of his career with and with whom he is very familiar. 266 yards gained on the ground en route to a 31-10 victory stood out to the O-lineman.

“When you’re able to line up in the same formation and run the same play over and over again and they know you’re running it against their will and they can’t stop it, that’s an offensive lineman’s dream,” he said. “That’s when you know you’re imposing your will. Just watching that and seeing what this group is about, seeing what this team is about… just that little piece that hit home with me.”

Collins’ injury in which all three of the ligaments in his left knee tore was sustained in a game against New England, and he hasn’t appeared in a game since December 2022 but had worked his way to a workout with Buffalo in December 2023.

“That’s a tough picture to put yourself in,” the OL added. “To deal with an injury that’s as traumatic as tearing your knee, it’s something you can’t really explain. I felt like last year, I maybe could’ve put myself in a position to play some football, but I knew mentally that the tank was empty.

That was tough days, that was days where you have 70,000 thoughts in your head running crazy, telling you you might not be good enough. You might not come back.”

But in the end, the lineman overcame the mental obstacles to reclaim the opportunity to play.

“At the end of the day, the best way to combat that noise is by combatting that with work, and discipline and building that confidence,” he noted.

He’s embraced his new home this season in Buffalo’s line rotation as well.

“I love it,” he added. “I think that’s a benefit to me, being able to play anywhere. Every chance I get to take a rep, it doesn’t matter if it’s with the ones, twos, or threes, take advantage of that opportunity that you get.

I’m so far from where I want to be right now, and I know I’ve got a lot of work to do, so I still feel like the process is still on going.”

To his credit, Collins remains dialed in and focused on the assignment at hand and finding his way back to success on the field in the process.

“They brought me here to play football and I came here to dominate and I’m going to let everything else take care of itself. I’m going to show up every day and go to work. Help the young guys, and do whatever they ask me.

I’m super grateful and I just look forward to giving Bills Mafia everything left in me. I’m ready to go ball. I’m ready to go dominate.”