The Jamie Collins era is over in Cleveland with the Browns cutting the veteran linebacker in an anticipated move. Collins led the team in tackles in 2018 and has been a starter (when healthy) ever since he arrived via trade from New England in 2016.
Despite dumping such a prominent player, the Browns might not outright replace him with another outside linebacker. With Steve Wilks taking over the defensive coordinator role from Gregg Williams, the role Collins played is much less prominent.
I touched on this in my recent breakdown of what I learned from my trip to the NFL combine,
Gregg Williams’ defense was notable for a couple of aspects, one of which was a reliance on LBs. The Browns played in the base 4-3 with all three LBs on the field more than any other team. Expect that to change (another reason why I believe Collins won’t be back).
New defensive coordinator Steve Wilks has used the hybrid safety/LB extensively with players like Shaq Thompson in Carolina and Deone Bucanon in Arizona. The Browns happen to have a pretty good one of those in Jabrill Peppers already, and Derrick Kindred is also capable in that role.
I know many fans are high on adding another linebacker even with keeping Collins. Based on my inferences and conversations in Indy, I don’t believe that is nearly as high of a priority for Dorsey & Co. I don’t expect more than a Day Three pick in the draft or a lower-tier free agent. In other words, get used to seeing a lot of Joe Schobert and Christian Kirksey as the only true LBs in 2019.
I stand by that impression. It’s why Dorsey & Co. were so readily able to dump the leading tackler from last year. The team appears pretty confident in the in-house options like Peppers, Genard Avery and a healthy return to form from Schobert to absorb the role that Collins would have played in Wilks’ defense. They’re more than capable of handling that assignment between them.
