Jamie Collins – LB (Detroit Lions)
The Detroit Lions were busy in free agency this offseason and they added a lot of new veteran players to their team who should concern the Vikings. Guys like former Bears defensive lineman Nick Williams, safety Duron Harmon, and the former Minnesota safety with something to prove, Jayron Kearse.
While all those players are major upgrades for the Lions, the guy the Vikings should be most concerned about is the former New England Patriots linebacker, Jamie Collins.
Collins has been very good in his seven-year NFL career. He’s totaled 575 tackles (54 for a loss) and 24.5 sacks. He’s coming off a seven-sack season for the Patriots and joins his former defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia, in Detroit.
Collins is a complete linebacker who can drop into coverage, rush the quarterback, and defend the run. He’ll be a major upgrade over Devon Kennard who held the job for the Lions a season ago. Adding Collins to the combination of Jarrad Davis and Christain Jones, gives Detroit one of the better linebacking trios in the league.
Minnesota needs to be concerned about this addition to the Lions defense because handling linebackers who can rush the quarterback has proven to be a problem for them.
Chicago with Khalil Mack and Leonard Floyd, have destroyed the Vikings’ offensive line in the recent past. Then the Green Bay Packers followed that blueprint last offseason and their additions of Preston Smith and Zadarius Smith proved to be too much for Minnesota’s blockers to handle.
Detroit doesn’t run a 3-4 front on defense as the Bears and Packers do. But if the Lions frequently send Collins on blitzes, the Vikings will likely have plenty of issues trying to contain him.