New England Patriots: Examining mass exodus of players

By Sam Minton | Mar 20, 2020

FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - JANUARY 04: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots looks on from the bench during the AFC Wild Card Playoff game against the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium on January 04, 2020 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

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Jamie Collins #58 (Photo by Timothy Bouwer/ISI Photos/Getty Images) /

Jamie Collins

Another linebacker to leave New England was Jamie Collins. Like Kyle Van Noy he will be headed to another former member of the Patriots coaching staff. Collins is headed to Detroit to play for Matt Patricia and the Lions.

Seeing that the Lions can always use help on defense this isn’t a surprise. Also, Collins got a nice payday with a 3 year $30 million deal with $18 million guaranteed. Once again the New England Patriots weren’t going to break out the checkbook.

We have already seen what happens when Collins leaves New England. He joined Cleveland in 2016 and his career went downhill fast. Once he came back to the Patriots his career was reborn.

I guess the hope is that Patricia will be able to get the best out of Collins but I don’t think that will be the case. Collins will likely regress once again.

The loss of Collins is concerning with the amount of linebackers leaving the team. I think he would have done well if he stayed in New England but I wouldn’t get too beat up over him leaving.

Quickly we have seen some key faces of the New England Patriots defense head to other teams.

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