Belichick Crony Mike Lombardi Goes on a One-Man Media Campaign Against Jamie Collins

On Monday the New England Patriots, who are presumably trying to win the Super Bowl this season, traded linebacker Jamie Collins, who is presumably a useful player, to the Cleveland Browns for a conditional third-round pick. The deal startled many in the NFL community, though at the end of the day the Patriots are the Patriots and the Browns are the Browns, so it was easy to trust in the soulless genius of Bill Belichick and assume New England did well in the deal.

Yet there was Mike Lombardi, who previously worked for Belichick with the Pats and the Browns and now works for FOX as analyst, taking it upon himself to make sure the whole damn world understood that Collins had to go.

On Monday, he began by spreading the gospel of "Collins is undisciplined" via his Twitter account:

Collins on the second play of the game does whatever he wants and Bills gain 28 yards. Been happening all year. It was not going to continue
— michael lombardi (@mlombardifoxtv) October 31, 2016

Then he joined the podcast of Bill Simmons—long known for his measured, even-handed coverage of Belichick and the Patriots—to rip Collins some more:

"[Belichick]'s trading a guy who is very talented, but very moody, very inconsistent with his effort, and so for him to pay that player that type of money sends a message to the locker room that, look, I tolerate this and I reward this."

But that wasn't enough, so he expanded his campaign on Tuesday, going on Boston sports radio station WEEI to attack Collins further:

"Watch the tape. Jamie has not played particularly well," Lombardi said. He later added, "Sometimes freelancing is a problem, and I think sometimes effort is a problem."

…

"This is about football," he said. "This is about watching the player. Grade the player. People have a perception. You're arguing based on perception. If you studied the game tape and you understood the defense, and you understood everything that's going on, you would understand this is a football decision.

"I've said this to this kid before when I was [with the Patriots]. 'As good as we are, we go as you go.' When he wants to play and he's really into it, he can be a very good player. Now, is there something goin on in his life that I don't know about? But through eight games as a Patriot this season he had not been playing at a level that's acceptable to winning and beating good teams."

Very nice how he also just wildly speculates about personal issues for good measure.

It has always been assumed that former Belichick employees strike some kind of Faustian bargain with the be-hoodied Dark Lord, pledging their everlasting service to him. How else do you explain the laundry list of ex-coaches and execs who leave New England and immediately sabotage other organizations with their incompetence? Still, this is all a bit much, and now some pundits speculate that it may even cost the impending free agent Collins some money:

Hate to say it, but Mike Lombardi on Jamie Collins was so striking that Collins may have to answer for that stuff at the negotiating table.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) November 1, 2016

Then again, it's not like the Browns have shown themselves to be shrewd negotiators. Maybe the Pats did Collins a favor by sending him to an organization desperate enough to pay him whatever he wants. Or maybe Belichick will pick him up on the cheap next year.