The Patriots trade of Jamie Collins was one of the most shocking moves of Bill Belichick’s storied tenure. At that point in the 2016 season the Patriots defense was pretty bad.
No one ever thought they’d trade someone like Collins who after 2014 and 2015 was one of the most well-respected young linebackers in the league. In tandem with Dont’a Hightower they were a lethal duo leading the team to Super Bowl 49’s title.
Collins seemed like the perfect athletic linebacker for today’s game. Still he was exposed in coverage more than we’d like to admit. The 2015 AFC Championship was a low point for him and it carried over into the 2016 season.
He was a dynamic player, but prone to mental lapses that eventually caught up with him. So what’s different now that they’re bringing him back?
The linebackers at the top of the depth chart — Dont’a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy, along with promising second-year Ja’whaun Bentley and tough role player Elandon Roberts seem pretty set. No question they need the depth and Collins can do a number of things.
Van Noy has developed into the Hightower compliment that Collins only sporadically was. No one expects him to come in and retake his three-down linebacker status from Van Noy who is far more reliable.
Perhaps if only used as a situational pass rusher Collins could find some consistency and let’s face it, Hightower’s probably going to miss a game or two at some point.
I’ll be curious to see what they’re paying him, likely a one-year vet prove-it deal. He’ll have to find a role and carve out a spot with consistency. I don’t think it’s any kind of lock that he makes the team though. That will require Collins to redefine himself within the defense.
There’s no question they can use the veteran depth, but hopefully not at the expense of Bentley, who looks like he just might have three-down potential himself.
At his best, Collins makes this a better front and helps offset a big portion of what Trey Flowers did. You can never have too many freak athletes at the second level, we’ll see how much Collins buys in this time around.
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I don’t think Collins making the roster has a question mark – Belichick doesn’t bring him back unless he has a clear idea in mind of exactly how he can be used. There’s no one in the Pats LB corps who has anywhere near the physical attributes and I have to believe that Belichick wouldn’t have pulled the trigger without feeling quite sure that Collins’ head is in the right place. If all goes well, this Patrick Chung redux and Collins becomes the four-down monster we thought he could be in 2015.
I agree on how much athleticism Collins could bring to the LBs and that BB has an idea of how to use him, but I still think he has to buy in and deliver for him to win that role. I can’t just pencil him back into 4-down-player again when they already felt he was expendable once and then he didn’t do much in CLE. He could carve out a 3rd/4th down role and that should be enough if he’s up for it, but we’ll see.
You need to learn to think like BB. I think this move shows BB is toying with the idea of trading Hightower. He had a great playoff run but his regular season showed he’s nearing the end. BB likes to trade players in this situation when he can still get something for them.
My thinking like BB is that it’s a good value veteran deal. Have a hard time seeing Collins step right back into a three-down role and High now becoming expendable.
Great article and this is a interesting BB nice to consider. How best can we deploy him to impact the pass rush? And how did he really mentally lapse in his first turn as a patriot? I remember some two but appreciate your analysis!