Jamie Collins predicted to land with Kansas City Chiefs

Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports thinks Jamie Collins will finally find a place to land with the Kansas City Chiefs when all is said and done.

The NFL’s deadline for unrestricted free agents to sign new contracts and not have them count toward the compensatory pick formula is coming on Tuesday, May 7. After that day, teams will be more likely to sign veteran players in the hopes of bolstering their rosters while simultaneously not worrying about messing up the comp pick process.

For the Kansas City Chiefs, who are currently projected to land a fourth round compensatory selection, the deadline presents a chance to bring in some reliability and security at a couple problem areas. For Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports, he believes the Chiefs will strike after the deadline to address a weakness at linebacker by bringing in Jamie Collins.

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It wasn’t that long ago that Collins was turning heads in the playoffs as a Pro Bowl performer for the New England Patriots. Yet the Patriots saw fit to trade him at his highest value to the Cleveland Browns for a third round pick in 2016 and Collins was given a brand new four-year deal worth up to $50 million (and over $26M guaranteed). Unfortunately his quality of play dropped considerably in Cleveland and he was let go this past March.

Which version of Collins is real? Is the answer somewhere in the middle? Benjamin thinks he’d still be an upgrade for the Chiefs. He writes:

"Unless the Patriots bring back their old friend or the Baltimore Ravens get creative to replace C.J. Mosley, Collins seems like the kind of luxury upgrade Andy Reid would love to give Steve Spagnuolo. Kansas City’s LB situation isn’t insanely bad, but with some money to spare, they can afford to find a place for Collins, especially since LB was the one position the Chiefs didn’t address in the draft. They’ve already been aggressive to upgrade the defense, so why not finish it off? Collins got paid. Now he can contend."

Collins has earned Pro Football Focus grades of 42.1 and 62.3 over the last two years respectively in Cleveland, but it should be noted that Collins tore his MCL late in 2017. Cleveland was also in the midst of one overhaul after another with coordinators rotating through a revolving door. Last year, Collins returned to make all 16 starts in Cleveland and finished with 104 tackles, including 13 for a loss, 4 passes defended, 4 sacks, 1 interception and 1 forced fumble.

Collins played all over at linebacker for the Browns but was considered their primary starter at Sam (strongside) linebacker. The Browns overhauled their linebacking corps in the draft with prospects like Mack Wilson and Sione Takitaki, which made releasing Collins that much easier in retrospect.

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If Collins joins the Chiefs and stays at Sam, he’s likely going to battle with Damien Wilson for starter’s reps along with Jeremiah Attaochu. However, both Wilson, who joined the Chiefs this offseason from the Dallas Cowboys, and Collins are both flexible enough to start in other places, should the competition at Mike or Will suffer from lack of options.

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