The Patriots are annually one of the most aggressive teams in the league when it comes to adding talent, as evidenced by their recent trade for Josh Gordon. With the trade deadline now just a couple of days away, New England is looking to make more moves. The team wants “to acquire some help in the defensive front seven by the deadline Tuesday”, and “they’ve had internal discussions about trading for linebacker Jamie Collins“, according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic.
The Patriots traded Collins to the Browns in 2016, and now apparently have some interest in bringing him back. It would be an unusual move with a player being traded twice between two teams, but the Browns would likely welcome the relief of getting out of Collins’ contract, and it sounds like the Patriots are interested. Collins signed a four-year $50MM deal with Cleveland in 2017, and hasn’t lived up to that deal so far. Whatever happens, it sounds like the Patriots’ defense will look a little different by this time next week.
Here’s more from the AFC East:
- Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes “has been a hot name on the trade market”, but the “Bills have been reluctant to part with him”, a source told Howe. Howe thinks that Hughes would “be a good fit for the Patriots”, but doesn’t think Buffalo will decide to part with him. Hughes has been having a good season, notching 4.5 sacks in seven games.
- Jets tight end Neal Sterling “suffered his second concussion of the season” today against the Bears, and “likely will be lost [for] multiple games”, according to Rich Cimini of ESPN (Twitter link). The Jets are very thin at tight end, so this is a somewhat significant loss for New York.
- Bills running back LeSean McCoy has cleared the concussion protocol and will play Monday night against the Patriots, the team announced in a tweet. It’s a huge boost for Buffalo’s struggling offense as they look to pull of the massive upset in primetime.
I don’t see why the browns would trade Collins. They aren’t desperate to shed the contract, they have minimal depth at LB and they traded a 3rd rounder for Collins back in 2016. If I were the browns, I would set a high price for him, a second rounder or tell the Pats to move on.
I don’t mind Collins, but on the other hand you can never have too much cap space (especially when you can allocate his salary elsewhere), trading Collins would mean even more playing time for Genard Avery, and worrying about how much you gave up in the past is a waste of time. Dorsey didn’t trade that pick for him, so he doesn’t care.
I still think Collins is a decent player and if the Browns keep him I’d be excited about it, but if you can clear his contract and get a decent pick too then you do it.
If the browns from 2016 traded a 3rd rounder, essentially a late 2nd rounder, for half a season of Collins, they should keep that in mind when dealing him back to the Pats. Avery is getting plenty of PT, the front 7 is really talented but they get gassed during the games. Which is why I think they should keep him this year and next… Collins can probably play better than what we’ve seen from him thus far into his contract.
Yeah but we’ve seen in some cases higher salaries drive down the trade price. Damon Harrison just went for a 5th rounder and he’d been playing great this year.
Browns NEED to invest in an OLine. They can’t run, Baker is getting no time and the offense is dead without it.
The guards are very good and the center is solid. They just have awful tackles.
Collins has turned into a dog and has no place on the Patriots. He isn’t worth a 7th round pick.
the PATS need to find a linebacker capable of cpvering TEs especially if they think they are going up against the chiefs.
if anything they should go after landon Collins of the giants to help with KC.
NY jets need to make a trade for some help on offense ASAP
They should abandon the run by committee approach. Their best teams were those when they had a bell cow like Curtis Martin to carry the mail. The Steelers have just the guy they could use so they should try to get him at any cost.