The New England Patriots once again are atop ESPN’s NFL power rankings.
This week’s edition of The Mothership’s rankings featured a “what we got wrong” blurb about every team. For the Patriots, ESPN (specifically Mike Reiss) admitted it was wrong about linebacker Jamie Collins.
From Reiss:
“What we got wrong: That Jamie Collins Sr. would have to fight for a roster spot.
“It sounded good in theory, considering the Patriots had traded Collins in 2016 for the low price of a late third-round draft choice, but it didn’t factor in that Collins was returning to the team with a completely different mindset/approach than he had in his first stint. Collins has arguably been the Patriots’ best defender through three games (18 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 2 interceptions).”
Collins has been perhaps the best Patriots defender through three games. In fact, you could make the argument he’s been the team’s best overall player thus far.
Like Patrick Chung before him, Collins has returned to the Patriots a better player than he was when he left New England.
