Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your Thursday. Grab your coffee and let’s get to it.
You want to know why BSJ subscribers are the best? Because they make you think about things you never even considered in the first place.
On Wednesday, shortly after the news broke the Patriots might be interested in bringing back Jamie Collins, one BSJ subscriber dropped a Patrick Chung comparison, a callback to a guy who was drafted by New England, left to spend a year in purgatory with the Eagles, and returned to Foxborough a different guy. Both Chung and Bill Belichick have noted over the years that they managed to get the marriage right the second time around.
"For a combination of reasons -- I'd say a big part of it (being) mistakes that I personally made -- it just didn't work out the way that we had hoped it would," Belichick said of Chung in 2018. "But we got it right the second time."
Other guys like Deion Branch have had a successful second stint in New England. (It looks like Ben Watson is going to try as well.) But the truth of the matter is that if Collins and Belichick are going to have a successful second act, the coaches’ relationship with Chung is a terrific template for both parties to follow. Things clearly soured between Belichick and Collins leading up to the trade deadline in 2016, but if both sides are committed to getting it right the second time — in much the same way Belichick and Chung were able to reconcile in 2014 — the idea of a second act in New England for Collins isn’t as crazy as we might think.
He’s back.......@j_collins91 #SmashBros back! pic.twitter.com/m8ufpPjRTY
— Dont'a Hightower (@zeus30hightower) May 15, 2019
The most dominant season ever by a tight end: @RobGronkowski in 2011 ? @Patriots
▪️90 catches
▪️1,327 yards
▪️18 total TDs pic.twitter.com/3D3yNW5UDa
— NFL Throwback (@nflthrowback) May 14, 2019