Landon Collins

[VeveJones007]

PFF has some thoughts on Collins:

When he first entered the league in 2015, Collins was used as a true free safety and played deep down the field en route to an underwhelming overall grade of 49.2, which was the third-lowest grade among safeties that year. Then, in 2016, Collins was moved to strong safety and played much closer to the line of scrimmage and his grade sky-rocketed as he earned a spot on the PFF top 101 for two straight years. For such a turn to take place, it should be obvious that Collins is much better suited for playing as a box safety, and that’s the role he should play on his new team if he wants to reclaim his spot as one of the league’s best safeties.

For someone who has star potential like Collins, you can’t blame him for looking elsewhere this offseason, but teams need to understand that they can’t just plug him at deep safety and expect him to fly all over the field with range like Earl Thomas. If anything, he’s more of a Kam Chancellor.

Landon Collins can return to his 2016 and 2017 form, but, again, it must be as primarily a box safety. This past season, Collins had 23 run stops when lined up within eight yards of the line of scrimmage, ranking second among safeties. In other words, Collins tackled running backs for losses or short gains more often than most when lined up close to the action. He can also rough up slot receivers and tight ends and cover routes over the middle; Collins proved as much when he earned a top-fifteen coverage grade among safeties in 2017.

Not sure it's anything that we don't know. He's basically a better Clayton Geathers without the long injury track record.

[VeveJones007]

Erickson chimes in .

Safety is a position that matters more to the Indianapolis defense than most teams. Safeties are critical in Matt Eberflus’ defense, a fact fans in Indianapolis know all too well after watching what Bob Sanders could do in Tony Dungy's scheme when he was healthy.

The Colts need a strong safety who can tackle, both as a thumping presence in the running game and a sure stopper in the open field. As good as Indianapolis was against the run last season — the Colts finished eighth in the NFL — Eberflus repeatedly said improved tackling from the defensive backs was key to taking the next step.

And even in an NFL that’s increasingly focused on the pass, defensive backs who tackle are critical to a Colts defense that forces opposing quarterbacks to throw it underneath and trusts its linebackers and secondary to make tackles in the open field.

No defensive back in the NFL makes more plays than Collins, who has made 437 tackles over the past four seasons.

“There’s no doubt it’s important,” Ballard said last week. “Because of the way we play, the 8-man fronts, we ask our safeties to do a lot. They’ve got to drop in the box and be able to play the run in the 8-man front, they’ve got to be able to play in a half field, we’re going to ask them to play man-to-man sometimes on a slot and on a tight end.”

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by rcubed

when you say not a top need, are you assuming farley and geathers will be back?

I think Farley will be for sure. And geathers would be easy to get back if they want.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by VeveJones007

Erickson chimes in .

Yeah, he would fit into our defense. Is young, 3 time pro bowler, good in the box safety. He is their best defender, just surprised they are letting him walk, but they want to trade O'dell also. I'm not impressed with Gettleman, I don't think he will be there in a couple of years.

[Lawrence Owen]

First off, he is a quality character. So he fits Ballard's locker room build.
Secondly, he is similar to Geathers, only better, with less injury history.
Thirdly, he's not used to having a real secondary around him. Our Corner's might be young, but they are very disciplined in the scheme. A nice change for a safety that is used to trying to make up for deficiencies of others around him, (which is one reason I think his coverage skills were lacking, he had too many things on his mind) .
With Hooker beside him playing sideline to sideline, He can just play 'free', and make plays. This is what he is really good at.
Hooker is a close friend, so I think if we really wanted him, he could be sold on coming here, and probably cheaper than what the Giants could have re-signed him for.
P.S. I'm probably going to put this question in my next pod, and plug this site as the reference for this question.)

[VeveJones007]

Originally Posted by Lawrence Owen

First off, he is a quality character. So he fits Ballard's locker room build.
Secondly, he is similar to Geathers, only better, with less injury history.
Thirdly, he's not used to having a real secondary around him. Our Corner's might be young, but they are very disciplined in the scheme. A nice change for a safety that is used to trying to make up for deficiencies of others around him, (which is one reason I think his coverage skills were lacking, he had too many things on his mind) .
With Hooker beside him playing sideline to sideline, He can just play 'free', and make plays. This is what he is really good at.
Hooker is a close friend, so I think if we really wanted him, he could be sold on coming here, and probably cheaper than what the Giants could have re-signed him for.
P.S. I'm probably going to put this question in my next pod, and plug this site as the reference for this question.)

Yeah, it definitely seems to make a lot of sense on paper. I would be very interested in what Eberflus thinks of Collins.

[Chromeburn]

Was watching NFL network and they said 5 pro bowl safeties will be on the market. Earl Thomas will be a free agent at 30. Looks like Houston wants to resign the honey badger.

I still think Collins is the best option when considering youth, production and scheme fit.

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

Was watching NFL network and they said 5 pro bowl safeties will be on the market. Earl Thomas will be a free agent at 30. Looks like Houston wants to resign the honey badger.

I still think Collins is the best option at youth, production and scheme for though.

He and Amos are very close for me. I'd rate Amos lower, but also expect he'll sign for significantly less (say $9-10m vs $12-13m AAV).

[Luck4Reich]

Apparently Ebron is trying to recruit Collins on Twitter.

[Luck4Reich]

Originally Posted by Coltsalr

Ebron appears to agree with me:

https://twitter.com/ebron85/status/1...992795138?s=21

Sorry didnt see this.