After living (and mostly dying) during the Shawn Crable Experience, I was psyched when Collins came aboard and played like the guy Crable promised. Pretty surprised to hear of attitude issues as my understanding of JC previous to the trade was that he was a Patriot who bought all in and his low profile seemed to back it up.
On Lombardi - should have seen this coming a while back as Lombardi's been pretty open in the past on different podcasts regarding problems with the Pats' D and specifically Collins. Of course the bye week! Lombardi's one and done stay with the Pats came only 9 days after his tenure as Cleveland's GM ended and it has always been a somewhat of a head scratcher to me. He worked player personnel under BB at Cleveland and then years later joined the media where he does a good job, I think, as he seems pretty knowledgable about the game and had the best insights on the Pats.
It's possible that BB learned through Deflategate that having a media member or two on the outside that he can trust to relay news is an asset that he ignored too long. Lombardi would be a perfect "get" as BB obviously respects Lombardi's knowledge and judgement and could trust that he'd be circumspect and responsible in his reporting going forward - at least as much as any reporter. Lombardi getting word out quickly and widely certainly seems to indicate something's up. Or BB could have just hired Lombardi last year so Lombardi could build his value back up as a front office guy.
On Lombardi - should have seen this coming a while back as Lombardi's been pretty open in the past on different podcasts regarding problems with the Pats' D and specifically Collins. Of course the bye week! Lombardi's one and done stay with the Pats came only 9 days after his tenure as Cleveland's GM ended and it has always been a somewhat of a head scratcher to me. He worked player personnel under BB at Cleveland and then years later joined the media where he does a good job, I think, as he seems pretty knowledgable about the game and had the best insights on the Pats.
It's possible that BB learned through Deflategate that having a media member or two on the outside that he can trust to relay news is an asset that he ignored too long. Lombardi would be a perfect "get" as BB obviously respects Lombardi's knowledge and judgement and could trust that he'd be circumspect and responsible in his reporting going forward - at least as much as any reporter. Lombardi getting word out quickly and widely certainly seems to indicate something's up. Or BB could have just hired Lombardi last year so Lombardi could build his value back up as a front office guy.