Landon Collins was not shy this past season about criticizing New York Giants teammate Eli Apple, but he says that’s all in the past now. Speaking with reporters on Monday, Collins says that he and Apple have spoken and that their issues have been squashed.
“We talked, definitely,” Collins said, per Edward Lewis of NFL.com. “We buried the hatchet a while ago — that’s my guy, that’s my brother. I’m always going to have his back and we know what we got to do. We know what kind of caliber player he is, we know what kind of caliber player I am and we’re just trying to get to work and make this season go.”
Of course, one wonders how much of this has to do with New York’s commitment to Apple, rather than Collins suddenly finding a soft spot in his heart. After all, he called Apple a “cancer” last year when their beef was at its peak. It wasn’t long after new general manager Dave Gettleman’s comments about Apple having a clean slate that Collins came out and said he wanted Apple back on the team in 2018.
Now that Apple is officially “back,” Collins says he’s happy about it.
“Yeah, I am glad to see him back,” Collins said of Apple. “He’s a great corner, he’s very smart. I love that he comes up and lays the boom on guys and he’s a great coverage guy so we need him and I’ll be glad to have him back.”
Regardless of how it came about, it’s good that Collins — one of the team’s defensive leaders — is publicly supporting his teammate now. No doubt, Apple has a ways to go before he’ll have the full trust of Collins and his other teammates, however.