If you want the answer go to SEA-pat's post. To most players anyone other than the coaches and trainers they deal with day to day are pretty much strangers. Besides Lombardi was only here a year or two, so it wasn't like he was around for the last 4 years. I can easily see Collin's having some upper management guy making a comment to him in a meeting without know (or caring) who he was.
Sea-Pat also made a great point on Lombardi. He's in the media with podcasts to promote and trying to get face time on Fox and in talk radio. For all those guys, the key word is hyperbole. When he calls the defense "not good", he creates a ripple. They all do it.
When it comes to mediots, especially those who have been in the game, you have to look for the GERM OF TRUTH inside the hyperbole. And what I'm getting is that consistency has ALWAYS been a issue for Collins, even if we fans didn't know it. Clearly he had Lawrence Taylor-like skills, and just as clearly, he didn't have Taylor's consistent fierce intensity. The public saw only the ups, or flash plays, and in 2014 and 15 there were enough of them to create the perception that Collins was a great player with enormous skills. The reality was that statement was only half true. There is no doubting he enormous skills, but if you were coaching him, his lack of consistency didn't make him a great player....merely a good one.
I think the Pats could deal with the player he was in 2014 and 15, because there were enough of those flash plays to make up for the inconsistencies. However something happened this year, and whatever it was, it caused the inconsistent Collins to become more pronounced, and the flash play Collins to diminish. In the end both sides were unhappy with the situation and the trade was a way to get something for an asset rather than nothing.
It will be interesting to see what Collins does in Cleveland. Of course there will be teams who will fall in love with the physical freak Collins is, but he is going to have to show that he can consistently be dominant, or he can kiss that really BIG money good bye. Teams are now going to pour over all of Collins' tapes this off season and see if Lombardi's claims are correct and make Collins' big money contract more about production and less about guarantees.