Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

Safety Landon Collins appears to be getting an early start on the next chapter of his NFL career after spending the past four seasons with the New York Giants.

Per ESPN's Josina Anderson, Collins cleared out his locker and "said his goodbyes to teammates, coaches and trainers" at the Giants' facility on Wednesday.

After Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reported Collins did not clean out his locker, the veteran safety clarified the situation on Twitter:

Collins will become a free agent next month unless he can reach an agreement with the Giants on a new contract.

Per Anderson, Collins and the Giants hadn't engaged in contract negotiations as recently as Tuesday. New York has the option to use the franchise tag on the 25-year-old, though CBS Sports' Joel Corry estimates the tag value for safeties in 2019 will be $11.256 million.

Per Spotrac, the Giants rank 19th in the NFL with $27.4 million in available cap space this offseason.

Collins missed the final four games of last season after being placed on injured reserve with a partially torn rotator cuff that required surgery.

Since being selected in the second round of the 2015 NFL draft, Collins has been one of the league's most productive safeties. He has recorded at least 96 combined tackles and four passes defended in each of his first four seasons, and was named to the Pro Bowl in each of the previous three seasons.