Landon Collins' case for and against winning Defensive Player of Year
The NFL hands out its awards on Saturday night in Houston. Safety Landon Collins has a legitimate shot to be named AP Defensive Player of the Year and quarterback Eli Manning is a finalist for the Walter Payton Man of the Year honor.
In this space, we’re going to discuss the merits of Collins, a second-year player who busted out with an All-Pro season. It was a surprising jump from up-and-down rookie to difference-making jack-of-all-trades safety. He was a star for the Giants this season.
“I know he’s playing at a high level for us,” coach Ben McAdoo said during the year, after Collins had five interceptions in a four-game stretch. “He’s still learning, he’s still growing, he’s still a young player. He’s preparing well, and he’s very productive.”
Just about everyone noticed. Will it be enough to beat out such players as Denver’s Von Miller, Atlanta’s Vic Beasley Jr., Los Angeles’ Aaron Donald and Oakland’s Khalil Mack, who are believed to be his top competition?
Let’s look at Collins’ case:
Why he deserves DPOY: His stat line speaks for itself – 125 tackles, four sacks, five interceptions, 13 passes defended, one touchdown. He led all safeties with 46 defensive stops, according to Pro Football Focus. That was eight more than any other safety. Nobody in the NFL produced such a diverse stat line. Collins was the only player with at least 100 tackles, three sacks and three interceptions. He helped transform a defense that was among the worst in the league last season to the one of the best in 2016. Collins played every snap and was a consistent performer from start to finish on a defense that allowed the second-fewest points. All in all, he was brilliant in 2016, and likely exceeded even the loftiest of expectations.
Why he doesn’t deserve DPOY: The argument against Collins isn’t really a knock. It’s more a bonus for his competition. Miller, Mack and Donald did their damage through constant double teams. Teams game-planned to stop them. That wasn’t necessarily the case for Collins, especially early in the year when nobody knew he was a top-level player. It likely wasn’t the case later in the year either with much of the attention on trying to contain Damon Harrison in the middle of the Giants’ defensive line.
Collins still played his role brilliantly. He was used mostly near the line of scrimmage as a run-stuffer, blitzer and in coverage mostly in the short and intermediate areas of the field. That was ideal for his skill set. But the Giants didn’t use him often to stop or shadow the league’s better tight ends or help prevent all the big plays they allowed downfield (only one team allowed more passes of 20 or more yards). That’s just not the strength of his game.
Prediction: Von Miller wins Defensive Player of the Year
Collins finishes second or third (possibly behind Mack as well). It’s part name cache and part Miller’s ability to dominate despite intense attention and double teams. Miller finished second in the league with 13.5 sacks, tied for sixth with 24 quarterback hits and had 78 total tackles, the most of any player with double-digit sacks. He was also the leader of a Broncos defense that held up its end of the bargain, finishing fourth in yards and points allowed. Miller is a worthy winner. Collins was a worthy candidate.
