Cleveland Browns

Patriots trade Jamie Collins to Cleveland Browns for draft pick

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The New England Patriots have traded linebacker Jamie Collins to the Cleveland Browns for a third round compensatory draft pick in 2017…

The great Bill Belichick has lost another trade, this time with the Cleveland Browns…

This is the second really bad trade the Patriots have made in less than a year, after they had already sent edge rusher Chandler Jones to the Arizona Cardinals for a second round pick and offensive guard Jonathan Cooper, who is no longer with the team.

For those keeping track at home, the Patriots have now traded their two best defenders (Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins) for effectively a 2nd and 3rd round pick.

And the third round pick isn’t even the Browns’ high choice. It’s a compensatory selection the Browns are projected to get based on a free agents lost/acquired formula.

For the Cleveland Browns, this trade is a head scratcher as well but if you could get Jamie Collins for a compensatory third round draft pick, I don’t think there’s any team in the league that would say no to that.

The Patriots have made moves for guys like Barkevious Mingo and Kyle Van Noy this season, so perhaps they’re banking on their coaching bringing up some of these young players and getting rid of guys at a low cost while they sign big free agent deals elsewhere.

I just don’t get it, though.

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The Patriots are 7-1, and look like the best team in football right now. The loss of Chandler Jones hasn’t really cost them a whole lot, but Jamie Collins was playing at an incredibly high level over the last few years. He’s the type of cornerstone piece you would want to build a defense around, a guy that can rush the quarterback, play in space, and be effective in coverage.

He’s now a valuable weapon and member of the worst team in football, the Cleveland Browns. That has to be a shock to Collins, who is going to want to stick it to the Patriots now that they have dealt him at the worst possible time to the worst possible team.

I am in disbelief over this move…

Some might wonder why the Browns would trade for a guy like Collins, who wouldn’t sign with them long-term, but that’s what the franchise tag is for. They could slap Collins with the tag, re-sign him to a long-term deal, or potentially just recover that 3rd round compensatory pick in 2018 if he does indeed leave after this season

It’s a win-win-win scenario all-around for the Browns, who now have one of the best young linebackers in football at virtually no cost. They traded a pick that doesn’t even exist for them yet.

Unreal. We’ll see if this one comes back to bite Belichick in the butt.

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