By all accounts, La’El Collins helped his cause at the NFL Combine last week.

Collins ran the third-fastest 40-yard dash among offensive tackles (5.12 seconds) and performed with good agility in positional drills. Most, or maybe all, major mock drafts now include him as a first-round pick. He also showed up a little lighter than his usual 305 pounds on his 6-foot-4 frame, which helped with his speed and quickness.

But a major question remains: What is his best NFL position?

Collins made it clear he feels he can play the coveted left tackle spot, which requires tremendous athleticism and strength to handle some of the quickest and most athletic football players alive and ensure that multimillion-dollar quarterbacks don’t get speared in the back by muscle-bound 260-pound sledgehammers.

“A lot of teams thought ‘Wow we weren’t really expecting you to come out and move like you did,'” Collins told reporters. “I really felt confident going into Combine because I knew kind of what it was going to be like when I worked out for teams. I just sat back and stayed under the radar, really working on what I was going to show them.”

But most scouts feel like Collins is better suited to play right tackle or guard. NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock compared him to Zack Martin, who played left tackle at Notre Dame and earned first-team All-Pro as a rookie right guard for the Dallas Cowboys.

During games at LSU, an occasional lack of balance against good pass rushers offset his top-notch athleticism. He’s shown a mean streak as a run blocker and he’s as powerful as he is fast. If anything, playing slightly lighter at the Combine may have intrigued teams looking at him as a guard.

“On tape when he got stressed by speed, he lost all of his fundamentals and his arms started wind-milling around and he got perpendicular too quickly,” Mayock said, according to NOLA.com. “Even though he looked good athletically (at Combine), he’s a better fit on the right side, or inside (guard).”

Teams interested in evaluating Collins have a few more opportunities, as he’s expected to participate in LSU’s pro day on March 27 as well as in some private pre-draft workouts for individual teams.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. projects Collins to go at No. 29 to the Indianapolis Colts, though he released his most recent mock draft before the Combine.

Collins is “arguably the best run-blocker in the draft (next to Iowa’s Brandon Scherff) at offensive tackle, and a guy that I believe has the ability to remain at tackle and be a good one (even as I know some project him to end up at guard),” Kiper Jr. wrote.

NFL.com has Collins off the board at No. 13 to the New Orleans Saints: “Collins has the tools to be a functional starting offensive tackle, but he has Pro Bowl potential at guard,” the site wrote.

CBS Sports projects him to get selected between No. 9 and No. 19, while Peter King of MMQB.com doesn’t think Collins will go in the Top 15 (that’s all that he includes in his mock).

Collins played guard early in his LSU career before moving to left tackle, which he seemed to enjoy more.

“When you’re inside, you’re going up against pretty big guys — they’re stronger, a little fast,” Collins said at the Combine. “But when you’re out there on the island, you’re going against fast guys who are long with speed.

“I just love the one-on-one matchups. I love being out there one-on-one with a guy and just kind of having my way with him the whole night.”