Given that Jamie Collins joined the Patriots this week for the third time in his career, it would be safe assume he likes football life in New England.
But if there was any doubt, Collins made that very clear Friday afternoon in a Zoom call with local reporters.
“It was just like, a big smile on my face. I couldn’t stop smiling,” Collins said of returning to the Gillette Stadium locker room and seeing plenty of familiar faces. “Even just meeting everybody and the new guys. The new guys were looking like, ‘Who is this? Who is this? Who him? Who him?’ It was just super cool, man, like I said, just coming back in here and just knowing I can go out with these guys again for the third time. Like I said, three times, that’s big. Like I said, I’m just super grateful for it.”
Collins first arrived in New England as a second-round draft pick out of Southern Miss. back in 2013. He reached Pro Bowl status before being traded to the Browns three-plus years later.
“Glad to be back,” Collins said. “It’s a honor. I’m always blessed and grateful for opportunities like this, because this place, they took a chance on me coming out. This is where I started. This place gave me a chance to live out dreams and be something that I always wanted to be. I’m always super grateful for these doors. It’s exciting.”
Collins, who started two games earlier this season for the Lions before being released by Detroit, has been on the practice field this week with his new/old Patriots teammates. Bill Belichick said earlier in the day on Friday that “we’ll see” if Collins gets into the action on Sunday in New England’s trip to Houston to take on the Texans, and the linebacker was similarly non-committal.
“I hope so. We’ll see,” Collins said. “I just got here. I come here and I do my job. I’m always coming to do my job. Like I said, I’m just privileged and honored and grateful to be here. Whatever the man wants, the man gets. So we’ll see.”
While there were certainly questions about how well Collins fit in New England at the end of his first tenure as he approached free agency, his impressive playmaking return back in 2019 and subsequent re-signing this week make it clear there is a comfortable working relationship with the now 31-year-old and Belichick’s team.
“I’ve always just fit the part of this organization,” Collins said.
