Patriots Continue to Acquire the Hell out of WR Austin Collie

SoxScout

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The Patriots have signed veteran WR Austin Collie, according to a league source.
 
@MikeReiss

WR group has been banged up with Thompkins (shoulder), Dobson (neck), Amendola (groin) & Slater (wrist) all on injury report this week.
 

PedroKsBambino

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He's kind of small for a nose tackle! (just kidding)
 
Very much like taking the shot here.  Obviously, we'll just have to see if and how his concussion issues play out over time.
 

MarcSullivaFan

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Hoo-hoo-hoo hoosier land.
Bad sign for the health of the receiving corps, but otherwise I like it.

Collie is a very good player, IMHO. The question obviously is whether he can avoid another head injury. I'm somewhat disturbed that's he's still in the league given his history.
 

JohnnyK

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Three concussions plus returning from a ruptured patellar... Was in camp with the 49ers but released during final cuts, caught 5 passes on 9 targets during the preseason.
 

rodderick

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Liked this kid a lot in Indy. Looked like a star in the making before all his concussions. Solid route runner, reliable hands, if he's alright physically, I think he could help.
 

TSC

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rodderick said:
Liked this kid a lot in Indy. Looked like a star in the making before all his concussions. Solid route runner, reliable hands, if he's alright physically, I think he could help.
 
Having Tom Brady throwing him passes will probably lead to a lot less solid hits like the ones he was taking with Curtis Painter chucking him the ball.
 

RedOctober3829

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I wouldn't expect much from Collie as it's hard for a WR to step in off the street and learn the offense. He's a warm body to step in if one of the current guys (Dobson or KT) misses time. Once they are healthy, IMO they cut him.
 

Cornboy14

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TheShynessClinic said:
 
Having Tom Brady throwing him passes will probably lead to a lot less solid hits like the ones he was taking with Curtis Painter chucking him the ball.
Aaron Dobson strongly disagrees.
 

mt8thsw9th

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TheShynessClinic said:
 
Having Tom Brady throwing him passes will probably lead to a lot less solid hits like the ones he was taking with Curtis Painter chucking him the ball.
 
Given that he's on the Patriots because someone got hit pretty solidly, I'm not sure you can just assume this.
 
edit -too slow
 

TheoShmeo

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Cornboy14 said:
Aaron Dobson strongly disagrees.
Then he's a dope.  One pass doesn't make a rule and Brady generally leads his receivers or throws to a spot where a defender is not present.  At the very least, Tom does that a helluva lot more reliably than the immortal Curtis Painter.
 
Then again, Collie seems like he's one solid hit away from being turned into jello, so the difference between QBs may turn out to be academic. 
 

Cornboy14

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Brady is great and all, but let's not pretend like he doesn't lead his WRs into traffic regularly - every QB in the league does it. Welker and Edelman were both blown up quite regularly last year.
 

DaughtersofDougMirabelli

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See this as a depth move and wouldn't be surprised if he ends up inactive even this weekend.
 
There is probably some concern with Dobson and Amendola's health and if either will be starting this week. With Slater out that leaves Thompkins, Boyce, and Edelman as possibly your only three receivers come Sunday. 
 

BigJimEd

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Collie suffered his first couple of concussions with Manning. He played all 16 games the year Manning was out.
 
I'm not expecting much. He has, or at least had, potential but I don't see him staying on the field.
 

TheoShmeo

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Cornboy14 said:
Brady is great and all, but let's not pretend like he doesn't lead his WRs into traffic regularly - every QB in the league does it. Welker and Edelman were both blown up quite regularly last year.
True enough.  Tom throws to guys in traffic as much as anyone.  Maybe even more, actually.  At the same time, I'm guessing that most receivers would rather catch passes from all perspectives (including avoiding hits) from Tom than a perennial back-up like Painter.
 
Back to Collie, what's his recent history?  Where did he end up last season and what was he doing this season?  Did he go to camp with anyone?     
 

Captaincoop

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TheoShmeo said:
Then he's a dope.  One pass doesn't make a rule and Brady generally leads his receivers or throws to a spot where a defender is not present.  At the very least, Tom does that a helluva lot more reliably than the immortal Curtis Painter.
 
Then again, Collie seems like he's one solid hit away from being turned into jello, so the difference between QBs may turn out to be academic. 
 
This is nonsense.  I don't know if any receiver in the league has been led into more brutal head shots over the last five years than Wes Welker. 
 

DaughtersofDougMirabelli

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TheoShmeo said:
True enough.  Tom throws to guys in traffic as much as anyone.  Maybe even more, actually.  At the same time, I'm guessing that most receivers would rather catch passes from all perspectives (including avoiding hits) from Tom than a perennial back-up like Painter.
 
Back to Collie, what's his recent history?  Where did he end up last season and what was he doing this season?  Did he go to camp with anyone?     
 
Collie was with the Colts last year, suffered a concussion in preseason and was week to week through the first 3 weeks. Seemed to be a full participant in practice but ended up inactive until Week 3. 
 
In week 3 he was carted off the field with a knee injury and was diagnosed with a ruptured right patella tendon ending his season. Initial news was that he wouldn't be ready until October (which today happens to be Oct 3rd). Tried out for numerous teams, Pats included, before getting signed and later cut by the 49ers. Most beat writers expected him to make the team and he seemed to be a suprise cut.  
 
Coach Jim Harbaugh recently indicated that Collie wasn't fully recovered from last season's torn patellar tendon. The 27-year-old is no higher than sixth on the depth chart, and he didn't appear in Sunday night's dress rehearsal until late in the third quarter. Collie played 14 snaps and caught one pass for eight yards. Going on 28, Collie's knee woes and concussion history have him on the verge of being out of the league. It's a sad thing considering his considerable talent.
 
It seems like he was a favorite target for Luck in training camp last year and led the team in targets in his first preseason game (3 catches, 45 yards, TD. He expected to be the Colts #2 receiver in all sets behind Wayne. 
 

rodderick

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Captaincoop said:
 
This is nonsense.  I don't know if any receiver in the league has been led into more brutal head shots over the last five years than Wes Welker. 
 
Wes Welker is a slot receiver who grabs 110 balls a year, gee, I wonder why he gets blown up often. Catching a pass in the middle of the field, in an area with a lot of defenders, and getting lit up isn't the same as the QB throwing the ball in a position in which the only way the receiver can get it is to be destroyed afterwards. I'd very much argue there are plenty of receivers who have been "led" by the quarterback into more brutal head shots than Welker.
 

kolbitr

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Captaincoop said:
 
This is nonsense.  I don't know if any receiver in the league has been led into more brutal head shots over the last five years than Wes Welker. 
 
This is ridiculous. But given that no poster on the forum has made as many wrong claims about Brady in the past five years than you, that isn't surprising.
 
I don't know whether Brady is better than other QBs at leading his receivers safely, although Greg Bedard is on record as saying that he is one of the better QBs in the game at doing so, and he watches a lot more football than most of us. And those pointing to Dobson's injury are also being silly--that was a completely unncessary hit, which had nothing to do with the quarterback and everything to do with an overzealous DB.
 
Why do people post foolish things?
 

soxfan121

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TheoShmeo said:
True enough.  Tom throws to guys in traffic as much as anyone.  Maybe even more, actually.  At the same time, I'm guessing that most receivers would rather catch passes from all perspectives (including avoiding hits) from Tom than a perennial back-up like Painter.
 
Back to Collie, what's his recent history?  Where did he end up last season and what was he doing this season?  Did he go to camp with anyone?     
 
Read the thread. He went to camp this season with the 49ers. He played all 16 games the year Manning was out injured; all of his concussions came while Manning was the QB. Hurt his knee in week 3 last season with the Colts.
 

Super Nomario

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Collie's insurance for Dobson / Thompkins / Amendola. My prediction is at least two of those guys are healthy enough to go this week; Collie is inactive and gets cut next week.
 

triniSox

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Super Nomario said:
Collie's insurance for Dobson / Thompkins / Amendola. My prediction is at least two of those guys are healthy enough to go this week; Collie is inactive and gets cut next week.
This seems the likeliest scenario to me. Or maybe he's active this week and catches a couple balls/runs a few routes and then gets cut in the coming weeks. That's my level of expectations. Anything exceeding that would be gravy.
 

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One thing Brady does better than anyone is put the ball down to a receiver over the middle that is not moving. Dobson's pass for instance was low and he gave the receiver a chance to catch the ball and go to the ground.  IMO he regularly does this, especially to guys squatting in a zone.  Keeps it down and keeps them from getting killed if there is not real potential for YAC.
 

CoffeeNerdness

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Here's one of Collie's concussions with Manning at QB. Doesn't seem all that vicious a hit, nor does it seem like Manning hung him out to dry too badly.  Seems like bad luck mostly.
 
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kJp79iQbQ0[/youtube]
 
* - better quality video here:
 
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81bef0b9/article/colts-wr-collie-suffers-concussion-on-helmettohelmet-hit
 
And here's his second concussion from later in the season.  Very similar seam route with the throw delivered again by Manning.  
 
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d81d04bce/Another-scary-injury-for-Austin-Collie
 

TheoShmeo

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soxfan121 said:
 
Read the thread. He went to camp this season with the 49ers. He played all 16 games the year Manning was out injured; all of his concussions came while Manning was the QB. Hurt his knee in week 3 last season with the Colts.
Some of that information was in the thread and I missed it.  Mea culpa.
 
But I was also interested in learning more about Collie's 2013.
 
From ESPN.com:
 
Collie spent training camp with the San Francisco 49ers but was released during final cuts. He worked out for other teams since then and now gets a chance to contribute for the Patriots, who put four of the team's six wide receivers on Wednesday's injury report.
 
 

dbn

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PaulinMyrBch said:
One thing Brady does better than anyone is put the ball down to a receiver over the middle that is not moving. Dobson's pass for instance was low and he gave the receiver a chance to catch the ball and go to the ground.  IMO he regularly does this, especially to guys squatting in a zone.  Keeps it down and keeps them from getting killed if there is not real potential for YAC.
 
I often noticed that Brady throws low a lot, which annoyed me.  It never occurred to me that it might be intentional. 
 

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triniSox said:
This seems the likeliest scenario to me. Or maybe he's active this week and catches a couple balls/runs a few routes and then gets cut in the coming weeks. That's my level of expectations. Anything exceeding that would be gravy.
As always, Bedard nails it:
 
Greg A. Bedard ‏@GregABedard12m
The time to formulate one would be longer than he's here RT @gsam15: thoughts on collie?
 

soxfan121

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If the over/under on Collie being active is 50/50...whattya got?
 
Inactive. 
 
Edelman and Thompkins start, Boyce as the 3rd WR and Dobson active but limited as the 4th or 5th WR (depending on if Gronk suits up/lines up in the slot).
 

DaughtersofDougMirabelli

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soxfan121 said:
If the over/under on Collie being active is 50/50...whattya got?
 
Inactive. 
 
Edelman and Thompkins start, Boyce as the 3rd WR and Dobson active but limited as the 4th or 5th WR (depending on if Gronk suits up/lines up in the slot).
 
What's your reason for dropping Dobson below Boyce? The injury? 
 
I feel like if he is healthy enough to be active he'll be the WR3 like he's been all season. 
 

soxfan121

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DaughtersofDougMirabelli said:
 
What's your reason for dropping Dobson below Boyce? The injury? 
 
I feel like if he is healthy enough to be active he'll be the WR3 like he's been all season. 
 
Yep. Even if the neck checked out fine, I have to think it's painful and may have included some low-level bell ringing. 
 

lambeau

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Brilliant.
 
Amendola's doppelganger--both active for 42 games in their 4 NFL seasons for ~1800 yards. One should be healthy each game.
 
Should get up to speed quickly--a veteran trained by Manning.
 
So now depth at WR-1 and the rookies man WR-2 and Julian the slot.
 

Sportsbstn

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Collie was a very good receiver for Manning when he was on the field.  Excellent hands, good route runner.   
 

Toe Nash

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dbn said:
 
I often noticed that Brady throws low a lot, which annoyed me.  It never occurred to me that it might be intentional. 
It's absolutely intentional. Beyond avoiding hits, you also minimize the potential for a drop or tipped pass to lead to an INT. If the ball is angling towards the ground and the receiver doesn't catch it clean, it just drops to the ground unless something crazy happens.
 

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Captaincoop said:
 
This is nonsense.  I don't know if any receiver in the league has been led into more brutal head shots over the last five years than Wes Welker. 
 
He's a slot receiver with 130-50 targets a year going over the middle as his bread and butter. Yeah he's getting hit.
 

ragnarok725

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Interesting to have Collie show up today at the most critical of times. Amendola has to miss at least one game with that vicious concussion it looked like he sustained, and Edelman seemed gimpy a bit on that last drive (although haven't heard anything about it being serious).
 
Overall though, I'm thinking we could wind up seeing a good deal of Collie over the next couple weeks. 
 

Super Nomario

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E5 Yaz said:
 
Nails what again?
Happy to eat crow here.
 
I thought Collie over Boyce as interesting. I think they drafted Boyce thinking he could play inside or outside, but they haven't used him inside, which tells me they don't trust him on the option routes and such. Collie, obviously they do.
 

dbn

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Question: how common is the "Deion Branch Treatment" around the league?  Or, more to the point, is it more common with NE than most teams (it seems so but I don't follow other rosters that closely)?  
 

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dbn said:
Question: how common is the "Deion Branch Treatment" around the league?  Or, more to the point, is it more common with NE than most teams (it seems so but I don't follow other rosters that closely)?  
 
Didn't work out with Sudfeld so well.  His locker was also reported as intact until claimed by the Jets.
 
Can these guys be at the Pats facility if they are not affiliated with any other team?
 

dbn

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crystalline said:
 
Didn't work out with Sudfeld so well.  His locker was also reported as intact until claimed by the Jets.
 
Can these guys be at the Pats facility if they are not affiliated with any other team?
 
I think undrafted rookie free agents are a different story, though.  They mostly just want to be on a team, any team, and get 16 paychecks if possible.  A veteran, on the other hand, might, depending on his health, how much money he's banked, stage of career, etc., choose to wait around because they like that team's coaches, team-culture, chance at a ring, etc.