I'm very excited. Depth has improved, which was needed, as has the special teams unit along with that, more versatility and speed has been infused in the middle of the defense. The defense has had a lot of draft capital spent on it, now's the time to shows improvements on the field.
Beyond that though, one thing that hasn't been discussed a lot yet, after more tape study on Collins, is how good he is against the read-option. He seemingly takes it down that with ease in comparison to Patriots' other LBs. His speed and physicality, could make him the "hunter" in the LB corps that the Patriots have lacked for years.
I thought Hightower could man that spot from his Alabama tape, but he just doesn't seem to have enough speed or athleticism to chase down fast QBs or RBs on the perimeter that have broken contain or coverage skills to cover up the seams and in the flats. Collins has a lot of Hightower's versatility, but on the other end of the spectrum.
Collins likely won't be an immediate Von Miller-type presence as a pass rusher nor a great edge-setter at this point in his young career. He needs a lot more work in those areas than anything else in that regard, but I think he could be tasked with "roaming" the line of scrimmage and "sniffing out" plays while doing a lot of "flowing" to the football. He's a space player which Coach always talks about. He should be do fine in that role initially while he works on everything else.
