First of all thanks
Secondly, I have seen many times in reports and other such guff written that Hightower is someone that may rotate out. Maybe there is a stat to back that up via how many snaps he plays.
Both Collins and Hightower played 12 regular season and 2 Playoff games in 2015, with Collins playing 24% more snaps or 184 more snaps.
Total DEF Snaps 2015
J.Collins NE LB 778
D.Hightower NE LB 594
J.Mayo NE LB 395
J.Freeny NE LB 390
J.Bostic NE LB 231
D.Fleming NE LB 28
R.Johnson NE LB 13
D.Watson NE LB 3
D.Watson NE LB 1
E.Martin NE LB 0
E.Martin NE LB 0
EDIT - To add.. Lavonte David made 1090 DEF snaps in 2015 playing 16 regular season games. Yes, I realise the tangibles of different Ds on the field more, but this is a sizeable difference and to compare the players as that article does IMO is wrong.