Meriweather: There Won't Be Any Jolt Or Motivation From Collins Trade
BSOTON (CBS) -- The Patriots' surprising trade of Jamie Collins has garnered many theories as to why Bill Belichick would trade away one of his best defensive players in the middle of the season, with some considering the head coach was trying to send a message to the rest of his under-performing defense.
Step out of line or do something Bill doesn't like, and you'll find yourself off a Super Bowl contender and on the winless Browns. But former Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather said there will be no extra motivation that comes from Monday's trade.
"No, absolutely not. There ain't no jolt and that's not going to motivate nothing. Bill motivates his players with everyone there knowing that nobody is safe except for Tom Brady," Meriweather told 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich during his weekly interview on Wednesday. "That isn't something they hide. You never know when your time will come."
Meriweather believes the trade was the result of Collins wanting a the biggest possible payday when he becomes a free agent at the end of the season.
"I honestly think it happened because they knew Collins was going to ask for the max. He wasn't going to take nothing except the max. So instead of waiting until the end of the year and having to franchise him two or three times to get the deal done, they figured they may as well go get something out of him. They traded him to someone not in their division and they got a third-round draft pick out of him," explained Meriweather.
Some have suggested that Collins was sent to Cleveland because he fell out of Belichick's favor due to his tendency to freelance on the field. Meriweather isn't so sure.
"I don't know how much he was freelancing. When I was watching the defense, Collins was always dropping in the right spot. When he was rushing, it wasn't like he was rushing out of his lane. He looked like he was always doing the right thing," said Meriweather. "I was never in the locker room with him so I don't know if he was a knucklehead or not, but when he was freelancing he wasn't doing something way out of space where you'd get gashed for a big gain. If he was freelancing, I didnt see it."
Things got a little silly when Meriweather was asked about urinating on the sideline, which caused Toucher & Rich to use all of their 10 second delay. After a brief delay, they hit Meriweather with their five questions of the week, which included one about the best trash talker during his playing days.
"Got to be Ike Taylor. He might have been the best I've ever seen in my life. The reason he was so good was he has no limits," explained Meriweather. "I did a lot of trash talking, but certain things I kept off limits."
Meriweather said Taylor, who enjoyed a 12-year career with the Steelers, had no limits and would find personal information about your family and use that on the field. In one instance, a player's brother had passed away just before a game and that player decided to play before flying out for the funeral. Taylor tried to use that info to his advantage between the numbers.
"Ike said, 'That's why your punk brother passed away.' That might have been the worst I ever heard," said Meriweather. "He had no limits... Everybody wanted to fight Ike. Everybody."
Listen to the full interview below:
