Maliek Collins

Cleveland BrownsUNDERPAID

Pos IDL

Updated October 8, 2026

Compare Maliek Collins IDL rankings →

Model Score

85.4 MODEL

2018

77.3

2019

83.5

2020

68.2

2021

77.1

2022

79.3

2023

85.0

2024

80.5

2025

80.5

2026

85.4

How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →

STM Take

Career STTM range stable in the tier 3-5 band across the past five years puts Collins in the small group of structural mid-prime interior defenders with consistent production. The Nebraska Big Ten 3rd-round origin plus 10 years of NFL survival across five teams gives him plug-in veteran market value. The 2026 question is whether Collins holds tier 4 or better at age 30 or whether the structural late-career decline reasserts.

Collins came out of Nebraska as the Dallas Cowboys' 3rd-round pick (67th overall) in 2016 and has bounced through the Cowboys, Raiders, Texans, 49ers, and now Browns across 10 NFL seasons. His STTM career runs tier 5 (#40) in 2021, tier 4 (#29) in 2022, tier 3 (#17) in 2023 with the Texans, tier 5 (#34) in 2024 with the 49ers, and tier 3 (#17) in 2025 with Cleveland.

Strengths

Career STTM range stable in the tier 3-5 band across five years confirms structural mid-prime IDL ceiling exists across multiple team contexts.
10 years of NFL survival as a 3rd-round pick across five systems gives him real veteran market value with the journeyman pattern.

Concerns

Career STTM range capped at tier 3 (#17) flags the realistic ceiling at top-20 IDL rather than Pro Bowl territory.
Cleveland's broader defensive identity around Myles Garrett's primary pass-rush priority compresses Collins's snap-share dependency.

What to watch: Whether Collins holds tier 4 or better in 2026 at age 30, the threshold for confirming the mid-prime ceiling is sustained.