From humble beginnings to a humbling NFL start, Cardinals' L.J. Collier has a new slate
Munday, Texas is so small, there isn’t even enough room to get into trouble.
“And if you do, before it even gets back to anybody, your parents are meeting you down the street getting on you about it,” L.J. Collier, the new defensive end for the Arizona Cardinals, recalled.
Everyone knows everyone in Munday, population 1,246. And everyone knew Collier, who helped Munday High School win the state football championship as a junior in 2012. It helped earn him a football scholarship to TCU, where he would eventually become a first-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks in the 2019 draft.
But it all started for Collier back in Munday, which is in northern Texas and sits about 75 miles from both Abilene and Wichita Falls.
“Not really much to say, it’s a small town,” he said. “I graduated with 25 people if that will give you a little assumption of where I’m from. Other than that, Munday people are hard-working people. Small town, one way in, one way out. It ain’t what it used to be, but it was a great place to grow up.
“It’s not really that good after you become an adult because as I’ve gotten older, it’s kind of hard to find more places to work. But Munday’s a good place, man. I enjoyed my time there when I was coming up.”
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From humble beginnings, Collier recently found himself in a humble situation once again when the Seahawks declined to pick up his fifth-year option. Appearing in just eight games for Seattle last season, he became an unrestricted free agent and wasn’t sure where life would take him.
But then the Cardinals called and in March, he agreed to a one-year deal.
In the months that have followed, the 6-foot-2, 291-pound Collier has forced his way into Arizona’s starting lineup and has quickly become a leader among the team’s no-name defensive front. He made his Cardinals debut last Friday in the preseason opener against the Denver Broncos, batting down a pass from former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and chasing him out of the pocket on at least a couple occasions.
“I’ve always liked Russ; I think he’s good people,” Collier said. “It felt good to get out there and make some plays. I didn’t play very many (he was in on seven defensive snaps overall), but that’s just a preview of what’s to come this year.”
The Cardinals needed to plug some holes at defensive end after losing J.J. Watt to retirement and Zach Allen to the Broncos via free agency. Collier came cheap and he came with a chip on his shoulder.
“Knowing how they used him in Seattle for what they felt was best for their team, we’re using him a little bit differently for what we think is best for our team and for him,” Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said Wednesday. “He’s done a really good job of taking on that responsibility and playing with some different techniques that he hasn’t played with since he’s been in the NFL.
“I like where his game is at. He’s a mean guy with a high motor. I like that.”
Collier didn’t want to rehash his four seasons with the Seahawks or whether he felt he wasn’t utilized to the best of his abilities. Why burn bridges, after all?
“Those were great people there – great coaches, great organization and great teammates,” he said. “It just didn’t fit for me, man. It just wasn’t my type of system and my type of place. I tried my hardest to make it work but as you guys know, sometimes places and things don’t work so onto the next one.
“I feel like I’ve made a home here and I feel like I’m going to prove the next couple weeks that I am worthy of the first-round pick I was a couple years ago, and that we have a chance here to be great.”
It’s a fresh start for Collier, who as a kid in Munday, made some spending money by making fishing lures and building fences for his high school football coach. With the Cardinals, his main goal is to learn from previous mistakes and work on becoming a more consistent player and a difference-maker.
“I’m five years in. I’ve proved that I can play,” he said. “Now it’s about being consistent, and can I be a Pro Bowl-type player? Can I help an organization get to the playoffs? Can I be a showstopper? That’s what’s important to me. I have nothing left to prove to anybody but myself, that I deserve to be here and I deserve to play at the highest level with the best.”
It doesn’t serve a purpose to waste his time on regrets about what went wrong in Seattle. Collier’s future is now and he’s moving forward.
“I had plenty of months to think it over, but I have a daughter and a family to feed so once I left the building there (in Seattle), I talked with (General Manager) John (Schneider) and (coach) Pete (Carroll) and those guys and we kind of closed those doors. I’m a Cardinal now, so I let all that stuff go and I’m here to work.
“If you’re letting all that stuff in, man, you’re going to be clouded when we’re playing. I just told myself to take to it day by day, week by week, make the team, earn my teammates’ trust and respect and we’ll go from there.”
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Gannon and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis have had Collier’s back from the start and have told him, he said, “they believe I can be a nice, big-time player here.” Now, he added, “It’s just about going out there and proving that week after week.”
It beats making fishing lures for his coach. Don’t ask Collier what type of lure he used to make, though.
“Man, I couldn’t even tell you,” he said. “I don’t fish.”
He will, however, be fishing for quarterbacks this season.
“Oh definitely,” Collier said, smiling brightly. “That’s a different type of fishing.”
Ertz misses practice due to cold
Gannon said TE Zach Ertz missed practice Wednesday due to cold symptoms, a day after Ertz returned from injury and the Physically Unable to Perform list to take part in Tuesday's session.
Gannon said Ertz told him he was a little sore from wearing pads Tuesday. He was asked if there's a chance Ertz will play in the preseason.
"We've got a long way to go with him about that but obviously the guy's played a lot of ball and we'll do what's best for our team first, and then Zack second, and he's on board with that," Gannon said. "He looked good out there yesterday."
'Hump' day
The always quotable D.J. Humphries dropped a couple of one-liners during a news conference Wednesday. He started off by saying he has mixed emotions about playing in the preseason.
Humphries, the Cardinals' No. 1 left tackle, was given last Friday's game off.
"If you ask me, it depends on what day of the week you ask me," Humphries said, asked to explain the mixed emotions.
Asked about teammates with mean streaks, Humphries said linemen Will Hernandez and Marquis Hayes have it, as does rookie Paris Johnson Jr.
"Paris definitely has a little a-hole in him," Humphries said. "He'll take you to the ground and lay on you a little bit. So gotta love seeing that from him. And that's his nature too. It's not like we have to jazz him up to do that. That's like who he is."
Humphries ended his remarks by congratulating longtime former Arizona Republic Cardinals/NFL writer and columnist Kent Somers, who was in attendance, on Somers' recent retirement.
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Injury report
LB Cameron Thomas missed a second day of practice Wednesday with that Gannon called "a little residual effect" from last Friday's preseason game. QB Jeff Driskell is dealing with an injury from practice last week, and previously injured rookie LB B.J. Ojulari might not yet be ready to play Saturday in the next preseason game until Gannon feels comfortable with what Ojulari shows him in practice, Gannon said.
Republic sports staff reporter Jose M. Romero contributed to this article.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: L.J. Collier gets fresh start with the Arizona Cardinals
