Jamie Collins (LB) | Southern Miss | Scouting Report

Prospect: Jamie Collins

School: Southern Mississippi

Best Position: 34 Outside Linebacker

Height: 6-3

Weight: 250

Year: Senior

40 Time: 4.64 (Combine)

Scouting Report Overview: Jamie Collins wowed onlookers at the NFL Scouting Combine and really forced evaluators to go back and look at his college tape. Believe me they will like what they see. Collins is an athletic freak of nature and showed everyone, that athleticism at the combine. Although his athleticism is impressive he backed it up on the field too, sacking the quarterback 10 times this past season. Even with all this physical talent and production, Collins is still very much under the radar. After passing up on Auburn, in favor of Southern Miss, Collins stayed very much away from the spotlight. A High School QB, Collins made the transition to Safety to begin his college career, before eventually moving to 43 outside linebacker before eventually moving down once more to play a hybrid Defensive End/Outside Linebacker role. In his senior year, Southern Miss went 0-12, clearly showing the lack of talent around him. Despite this Collins still had very solid production and still gave great effort in his final year at school.

Size/Strength/Athleticism: What more can you say he has the height, weight, lower body strength, quickness and speed that you look for nowadays from an outside linebacker in a 3-4. He clocked an impressive 4.64 40 yard dash and had an outstanding 41.5″ vertical leap at the combine. The broad jump was where he really impressed. Not only did he jump further than any defensive lineman or linebacker has in the past 8 years, but he beat the next best (AJ Hawk) by 6 inches!

Pass Rush: Collins remind us a ton of Aldon Smith two years ago. He relies heavily on his athleticism to win one on one matchups and could beat tackles with both speed and power. He has immense quickness in small spaces making him an absolute handful once he makes his move on the lineman. It seems like only a nano-second between the time he gets past the blocker and the time, he hits the QB.

His motor getting off the ball is a little inconsistent at times, when he gets off the ball quick its game over for the offense, however when he doesn’t he has to work a lot harder to get to the QB. You get the feeling he is so confident in his athletic ability that he doesn’t need to always go full out off the snap for the edge rush. That mindset, if true, will need to be corrected at the next level. His bull rush move is effective already and will make him dangerous in the NFL, as Smith was, but he needs to learn a move or two more to help him get past tackles on the edge rush such as a good swim move. Athleticism only carries you so far in the NFL, but with some additional technique training, Collins could become one of the best pure pass rushers in the NFL.

Run Defense: Collins isn’t a great run defender. He can get locked down by a lineman off the snap, that does limit his effectiveness. However even when he does get caught up, Collins can still have an impact on the play. He sticks with plays to the whistle all the way to the whistle.  He countless times broke off his blocker and hustled down the ball carrier to make the play. If Collins can get a bit stronger at the point of attack it will take this aspect of his game to another level and make life so much easier for himself.

Pass Coverage: Jamie Collins is a former Safety and linebacker, which should tell you that he is a good defender in coverage. He has good awareness against the pass and can make plays on the ball due to his timed 4.64 speed and 41″ vertical leap. Collins’ ability to cover at the next level opens him up to pretty much any Defensive scheme.

NextEra RAP Best Postion Grade: 100.8 (3-4 Outside Linebacker), (#1 Rated 34 Outside Linebacker) (#9 Overall)

Other Positions: 91.2 (4-3 DE)

Jamie Collins has the potential to be the next game-changing pass rusher. His best chance for success will come in a 34 scheme and to be used exactly like Aldon Smith has been used in his first two seasons. He can be a starter in a 43, but there is greater risk there as he will need to add more weight and become more skilled against the run to thrive in that alignment.

Projection – First Round

NFL Player Comparison – Aldon Smith

College Tape:

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