Report: The Patriots Are About to Sign Jamie Collins
The Patriots are in fact adding, Ian Rapoport. They are adding, indeed.
I’m not going to pretend that I’m bowled over by the re-addition of Jamie Collins. For all of his splash plays and occasional displays of freakish athleticism, I never felt like the coaching staff was completely sold on his on-field performance. It’s the only explanation for the fact that, in the middle of the 2016 season on their way to Super Bowl LI, they flipped him to Cleveland for pretty much what they would’ve gotten if they’d just let him play out the string and then leave via free agency. That was a 3rd round pick which they then threw in with their No. 32 pick overall to New Orleans to lease Brandin Cooks for a year.
I’m convinced that by then they’d seen enough of Collins not being where they expected him to be when they expected him to be there and were perfectly content to trust Shea McClellin, Elandon Roberts and, on the outside, an emerging Trey Flowers instead. Around the same time they gave up on Collins they added Kyle Van Noy who wasted no time getting acclimated and outplaying Collins, despite not being the athlete Collins is.
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Still, I’ll take it. We’re talking about a guy with metahuman capabilities. Who is younger than Rob Gronkowski. Who in 2016 was ranked Pro Football Focus’ 7th highest graded linebacker. Who just two years ago was signed by Cleveland to a 4-year, $50 million deal with $26.5 million guaranteed that was being universally praised as a cornerstone move that would bring the Browns back to respectability. And who just last year had 104 combined tackles, 13 for a loss, four sacks and seven quarterback hits.
Adding Collins to a linebacker corps that already includes Van Noy, Roberts, Dont’a Hightower, John Simon and Ju’Whaun Bentley, who was impressive as hell as a rookie before being lost for the year? You’re damned right I’ll take that. The worst case scenario is Collins doesn’t make the roster. The best case is he plays significant snaps and makes an impact. The most likely outcome is he’s a depth/rotational guy who was popular among his teammates while he was here, can rush the passer from the interior and contribute on special teams. Regardless, you take that at this time of the year and be grateful you’re able to pick up a guy like this so late in the offseason.
The Jets lose, the Patriots add. I feel like we’ve heard that before.