Sports radio making the case that Belichick just didn't want him around anymore.
I'm fine with that but then you have to admit it's another busted draft pick.
He was a key part of a super bowl team and a darn good player during his time here. I don't necessarily agree with the timing of the trade, but he was going to go for more than he's worth based on his quality of output so I don't know that it's necessarily a busted pick.
Yeah, I think in no way does this trade mean the pick was a "Bust." I think with the hard cap, the greater number of players on a team, and the draft rules, NFL picks are a bit different than NBA picks. NFL picks are a few years older and more "ready" than NBA picks, generally, and NFL careers are pretty rough and short, relatively, so while in the NBA there is the sense that you use most of the rookie contract developing a guy then the first post-rookie max extension is most of their prime, then their next max extension is rest of prime and beginning of decline, I think it's different in the NFL and you are expected to get usage out of young players.
So if we draft Collins with a second rounder, get 3.5 above average seasons, including a superbowl, from him, then get a compensatory 3rd, that's pretty good usage out of that 2013 second rounder.
This is one of the few times i feel like Patriots revisionism has come into play. Last week everyone thought he was an excellent young LB. Now all of a sudden he was this and that. Well that's your fault on some level. Like you expect me to believe he was a good player all this time and then all of a sudden in the middle of contract negotiations he starts being a jerk? Really? He stops listening out of nowhere during the worst possible time?
If you didn't like him so much and it was such a problem why did you open negotiations to try to keep him?
Bottom line is if he took some sort of way below market deal he'd still be here, but he wanted what he was worth so he's gone. Belichick knew it so he controlled where he went and took the pick this year. If the defense gets injuries it will probably come back to haunt them and I've seen that too many times on this team.
Hopefully Elandon Roberts is the real deal, because now he has to be.
I agree with a lot of this. I don't want to trash Collins on the way out. He's a great player. But they have to keep Butler, Hightower, and others. I'm also not privy to practices; they really like the guy from the Lions, and I read some hopeful articles that he was really out of position in Detroit, and maybe better suited for a Collins type role. Same with Mingo. Then there's Roberts. So if they truly believe they can fill the gaps of Collins from within, and get a better pick, I get it. And if there was some behind the scenes / locker room stuff, I get it (but I doubt there was much there). So I don't know if he was traded out of spite because he asked for too much or if the Pats genuinely thought they can fill his role with the pieces they have, so let's pick up a better draft pick. I really hope its the latter. Brady only has so many years left; we learned last year that getting home field matters, so any edge this year to get the 1 seed matters. Any edge to win it all matters. So if they really hurt this year's team just to make a point, that would be disappointing. But if they thought Collins is gone after this year anyway, we don't need him this year based on our other players, and a 3rd rounder this offseason is more valuable to Brady's window than a 3rd rounder in 2018 (from Collins walking as a FA), then I get it.