LSU offensive tackle La’el Collins leaves draft to cooperate with authorities

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The La’el Collins story has likely sent NFL teams scrambling this week, trying to figure out what is going on with the LSU offensive tackle.

Collins, widely expected to be a first-round pick, was sought for questioning in the shooting of Brittany Mills, who police believe is a former girlfriend of Collins. Mills was pregnant, and was shot and killed last week. Collins is not considered a suspect in the case. Mills was found shot to death in her apartment last Friday, and authorities rushed her to the hospital where her child was delivered, ESPN said.

Wednesday’s news that Collins has decided to leave the draft in Chicago to cooperate with authorities in Louisiana and clear his name shouldn’t be too surprising. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said that Collins had planned to submit to paternity tests on Monday after the draft, but it’s “clear the situation requires urgent attention,” Rapoport wrote. ESPN’s Adam Schefter clarified that Collins voluntarily left Chicago to go back to Louisiana.

There are two angles to this story, and the first is clearly the most important: Officials in Louisiana are working on a homicide investigation, and NFL teams are working with an incomplete story when it comes to Collins. There’s no reason to believe at the moment that Collins has any involvement in the shooting, yet it also could make teams anxious to invest a first-round pick in a player who authorities want to question in a very serious case like this.

Collins’ attorney said that Collins was nowhere near Mills’ apartment at the time of the shooting.

“We have identified where La’el was the day the lady was murdered to establish he was nowhere around,” attorney Jim Boren told ESPN. “We have offered to give names, witnesses who can vouch for his whereabouts that day until after the woman’s body was discovered. We believe that when [police] have verified that information, that they will rule him out as a suspect in the homicide, just as I believe he should be.”

Again, the tragic crime is by far the most important part of the story, but the draft side of it likely isn’t unimportant to Collins or the NFL teams who are trying to get as many facts as they can before drafting one of this class’ most talented players.

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