The San Francisco 49ers have bolstered their defensive line with the acquisition of defensive tackle Maliek Collins in a trade with the Houston Texans for a seventh-round draft pick.
According to a person familiar with the trade, the Niners will finalize the acquisition of Collins pending a physical. The person shared the information with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as the trade has not yet been officially announced by either team. ESPN was the first to report the deal.
Collins joins a revamped defensive line in San Francisco, with the 49ers having previously agreed to deals with free agent defensive ends Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos, along with defensive tackle Jordan Elliott, according to sources speaking anonymously as those deals had not been finalized.
The addition of Collins addresses the need for reinforcements on the defensive line for the 49ers, with several key players hitting free agency and others, like Arik Armstead, expected to be released for salary cap reasons.
With Collins set to turn 29 next month, he brings experience and productivity to the 49ers. He is owed base salaries of $8 million and $9.5 million over the next two seasons. Houston will incur a $10 million dead cap hit for the trade due to a signing bonus paid to Collins when he received an extension last year.
Collins had a strong season in 2021, matching a career-high with five sacks and ranking 12th among all defensive tackles in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric. Over the past three seasons, he accumulated 11 sacks, 26 tackles for loss, and 35 quarterback hits while playing for the Texans. Before his time in Houston, Collins played for the Dallas Cowboys for four seasons and the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020.
