Another Pats stunner
LB Collins dealt away to Browns
The Patriots are in the midst of a potential Super Bowl run, but they’ll have to finish the job without marquee linebacker Jamie Collins.
The Pats surprisingly traded Collins to the Cleveland Browns yesterday for a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2018. If the Browns are awarded a compensatory third-round pick in 2017 due to the loss of center Alex Mack, they’ll reportedly ship that to the Patriots. Otherwise, the Pats will get a fourthrounder in 2018.
“In the end, we did what we thought was best for the football team,” Bill Belichick told WEEI. “We had a lot of things to take into consideration. I’m sure we could bring up a lot of points to talk about, but in the end, that’s really the bottom line.”
Collins’ teammates were blindsided by the trade, sources told the Herald.
On his weekly radio interview on Westwood One last night quarterback Tom Brady said, “I am always sad when we lose a player that I like and someone that I respect like Jamie.”
Safety Devin McCourty told CSNNE’s Tom E. Curran: “Jamie’s a huge piece of our defense, arguably our best defensive player. It’s going to be a lot of changes that come from this move.”
Collins has a sack, four quarterback hits, one forced fumble, two interceptions, a batted pass, a drawn holding penalty and four run-stuffs this season. He had two quarterback hits Sunday in the 41-25 victory against the Bills, but also missed a gap on Mike Gillislee’s 28-yard run on the second play of the game and got run through on Gillislee’s 3-yard touchdown. Quarterbacks targeting Collins this season are 8-of-13 for 61 yards.
Belichick said yesterday before the trade the Patriots’ defensive performance was an issue against the Bills.
“I think we’re all disappointed, so we really just need to do a better job,” Belichick said. “That’s pretty much across the board — the running game, the passing game, everything. I mean, there were some things that just we need to do better.”
Collins missed some time in recent years. He was out for one game in 2014 due to a thigh injury, four games in 2015 to a virus and one game this season due to a hip injury. Collins was used on a rotational basis on Sunday.
Without Collins, the Patriots will lean more heavily on firstyear captain Dont’a Hightower, and linebackers Elandon Roberts, Shea McClellin, Barkevious Mingo and Kyle Van Noy. Rob Ninkovich spent some time in the second level, too. Jonathan Freeny, placed on injured reserve this month, will not return this season, according to a source.
Belichick said the depth at the position was not an impetus for the trade, though.
“I don’t think that’s really what it’s about,” he told WEEI. “I think it’s just the player and his situation, and the team and the team’s situation and what’s best.”
Collins is in the final year of his rookie contract and had a cap hit of $1,202,143 in 2016. The Patriots have some difficult contractual decisions to make in the coming months with impending free agents Hightower, defensive ends Jabaal Sheard and Chris Long, defensive tackle Alan Branch, cornerbacks Malcolm Butler (restricted) and Logan Ryan, safety Duron Harmon and tight end Martellus Bennett. The Patriots already traded away defensive end Chandler Jones last offseason when they determined they wouldn’t re-sign him.
Collins and Hightower had been viewed as the two most important players to re-sign, and could each be worth about $11 million a year. Removing Collins wasn’t a necessity to keeping their most significant pieces. The Pats have a projected $60 million in cap space for 2017, the second most in the NFL.
The Patriots could have kept Collins for the remainder of the season before parting ways, and they likely would have recouped a compensatory third-round pick in the 2018 draft.
While Collins surrendered two touchdowns to Broncos tight end Owen Daniels in the 2015 AFC Championship Game loss, it’s still hard to say the Patriots wouldn’t be better off now with Collins on the roster.
Brady and the offense may carry the Patriots to the Super Bowl, so Collins’ presence may ultimately be a moot point. But the team with the best record in the AFC decreased its margin of error by trading Collins in this shocking move.