Weren't we in line to get a pretty decent comp pick for him? Seems like Bill just didn't want him out there (for reasons you listed). Pretty clear Bill didn't just ship him out because he thought he'd lose him.
I know this was beaten to death 3 years ago but I think Bill....
- Figured if Jamie wasn't going to do his job to move him ASAP
- Send him to CLE where he'd get a decent 3rd rounder and direct him to a non-threatening team
Except he didn't receive a "decent" 3rd-rounder for him.
No it wasn't.
3* 103 New Orleans Saints Trey Hendrickson LB Florida Atlantic C-USA from
Cleveland via
New England [R3 - 17]
People who defend Bill for trading Collins mid-season need to stop using the "He received better value by trading him now for a 2017 pick rather than wait for the compensatory pick in 2018" argument because it's simply not true.
I'm replying to all the above quotes because this is a major pet-peeve of mine....
Please remember, comp picks
get canceled out due to the NFL's formula that matches the Free Agents you lose vs the Free Agents you gain. No one knows the exact contract-related formula, but it isn't exactly rocket science: (1) you must lose more players than you gain. (2) If you lose a high-priced FA -- and want to keep that projected 3rd rd comp pick -- then you
cannot sign a new high priced FA and
keep that same comp pick. One cancels out the other. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Get it?
So, if you "expected" to get a 3rd rd comp pick for Jamie Collins in 2017 FA; then you should've also "expected" that NE would have a relatively modest Free Agency &
not sign any high priced FAs (like, oh, I dunno....
Stephon Gilmore). I know hindsight is 20/20, but why do people so quickly forget this? I don't need to explain any of this, you all know this, yet it's always so quickly forgotten in conversations like this. If you want the comp pick, then you are limiting your Free Agent market
severely, i.e. players who were cut, players still on the market after the draft, or hope Belichick can pull off a steal of a trade (like Revis, or Trent Brown). Because even if you want to just go after moderately-priced FAs; you
still have to lose more than you gain.
So, back to the topic at hand; trading Collins to Cleveland secured that 3rd. That's the value. Even if, somehow, the Browns traded you the exact same 3rd as the comp pick would've awarded you. Because that trade lets you approach free agency as aggressively as you want.