Trades no one saw coming have been a staple of the Bill Belichick era. In March, the Pats shipped pass rusher Chandler Jones to the Cardinals, and a few months later, Jones thanked Belichick for "not trading me to a crappy team."
Jamie Collins almost certainly won't have such things to say about his former coach now that he's been banished to the Browns.
Collins entered the season as one of the league's best young linebackers, which made the Pats' decision to trade him a curious one. Yes, Collins is in the final year of his rookie deal, and yes he was looking for a hefty pay raise in his next deal, but there was also speculation that Collins' predilection for freelancing played a part in New England's decision to get rid of him.
Here's Michael Lombardi, who worked with Belichick in Cleveland and New England, and now works for FS1:
Collins on the second play of the game does whatever he wants and Bills gain 28 yards. Been happening all year. It was not going to continue
— michael lombardi (@mlombardifoxtv) October 31, 2016
Of course, Lombardi doesn't speak for Belichick or the Patriots, so we may never really know all the reasons for the Collins trade. But according to linebackers coach Brian Flores, it wasn't because of Collins' freelancin' ways.
"I wouldn't say freelancing was an issue," linebackers coach Brian Flores said, via the Boston Herald's Jeff Howe. "Jamie was a very good player for us. He made a lot of plays. He helped us win a lot of ballgames. I keep saying that time and time again. He was a good player. Freelancing, I mean, did he make mistakes? Absolutely. But again, everyone makes mistakes. There's not a player in the league who doesn't make mistakes. But again, he made more plays than he made mistakes. I would say that. He was a great player for us."
As just about anyone who has played for Belichick knows -- just ask Randy Moss -- these are business decisions.
"You've got to put your feelings aside, obviously," Flores continued. "We all have our own personal feelings about the situation, but at the end of the day, Bill felt like that was the best thing for the team. We need to move forward and deal with the adversity like we deal with any adversity."
Amid the current "adversity," the Patriots are 7-1 and the NFL's best team.
