Commanders to release three-time Pro Bowl S Landon Collins three years after giving him $84M deal

Nearly three years to the day of Landon Collins signing a six-year, $84 million deal with Washington, the Commanders are set to release the safety, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Collins, 28, still had three years left on his contract, and the team reportedly wanted to restructure it to free up cap space, but couldn't agree to a new deal with the safety. With his release, the Commanders will free up over $32 million in cap room over the next three seasons, but carry over $16 million in dead space, including $9.6 million in 2022.

The veteran safety was a second-round pick of the New York Giants in the 2015 NFL Draft and earned three consecutive Pro Bowl nods with the team before hitting free agency in 2019. While he had a strong first season in Washington, an Achilles tear ended his 2020 season and Collins was moved into a linebacker-safety hybrid role in October 2021.

"If I'm good at it, I'll play there. If I need to be played there, cool. Other than that, do I like playing linebacker? No. No I don't," Collins told reporters after the move, via NBC Sports Washington. "I don't like hitting big linemen, getting big linemen off me. I'm undersized for being a linebacker. So yeah, I don't want to play down there, but if need to, yeah, I'll do so. I'm good at it."

Collins' 2021 season ended with another trip to the injured reserve after he suffered a foot injury in December.