The cutting of players around the NFL just ahead of the start of the 2019 league year continued on Wednesday and for a second day in a row an AFC North team released one of their veteran defensive players.
According to the Cleveland Browns on Wednesday, they have now released veteran linebacker Jamie Collins, who they had acquired via a trade with the New England Patriots in October of 2016.
Now 29 years of age, Collins registered 204 total tackles, 7 sacks, 2 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles in the 30 total games that he played with the Browns dating back to 2016. Collins was due a $10 million base salary and $500,000 in bonuses in 2019 and the Browns obviously didn’t deem him worthy of that.
While Collins did play in all 16 regular season games for the Browns in 2018, he missed 10 games during the 2017 regular season due to a concussion and ultimately a torn MCL, that resulted in him being placed on Cleveland’s Reserve/Injured list with seven games remaining on the schedule.
Some early speculation following Collins’ Wednesday release from the Browns is that he might wind up back with the Patriots, who originally selected him in the second-round of the 2013 NFL Draft out of Southern Mississippi. However, that won’t likely happen unless Collins agrees to play for less than half of what he was scheduled to earn with the Browns in 2019.
As far as the Pittsburgh Steelers history with Collins goes, they did have him in for a pre-draft visit in April of 2013.
