La'el Collins injury: What happened to Bengals star RT?

La'el Collins was injured in the Cincinnati Bengals' Week 16 victory over the New England Patriots. It was initially thought the Bengals' star right tackle had just suffered a dislocated kneecap. However, it turns out that he tore both his ACL and MCL against the Patriots.

Collins started all 15 games for the Bengals in his first season with the team. He's only been penalized seven times in 951 offensive snaps this season.

Before the start of the season, the right tackle signed a three-year, $21 million contract to bolster the Bengals' offensive line. Collins started 71 of his 74 games in six seasons with the Dallas Cowboys at right tackle. He played 4,714 snaps for the Cowboys and was penalized 31 times.

The questions now are how long it will take for Collins to recover and whether he'll return this season.

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La'el Collins' recovery from injury

After an MRI of the injured leg, the level of damage showed that the recovery timetable would be seven months. La'el Collins has been dealing with back problems since the summer. He'll now have to rehab deep into the upcoming offseason to make it back in time for next season.

When is La'el Collins returning?

The 29-year-old will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a torn ACL and MCL. The Bengals will now have to look to third-year offensive lineman Hakeem Adeniji to fill the massive gap left by Collins. Adeniji has played 16 percent of the Bengals' offensive snaps and 151 snaps in total this season.

Collins' injury will end Cincinnati's streak of starting all five offensive linemen this season. The Cincinnati Bengals led the NFL in offensive line snaps played together by the same five players. We'll see how the Bengals fare as they make a playoff push without their star right tackle.