After signing with the loathsome 49ers a few days back, the once-scintillating speed maven, Austin Collie, has begun practicing with Jim “The Manic Wigger†Harbaugh’s Afrocentric platoon. Ironically, “Wigger Jim†currently has three white receivers on the roster in Collie, former Seahawk, Charley Martin, and former Eagle, Chad Hall…
With Manningham and Crabtree suffering major injuries, only Anquan Bolden, 1[SUP]st[/SUP] round bust AJ Jenkins, and perennial loser smurfette, Kyle Williams, are locks to the make the squad. Let’s hope that Collie can somehow, someway, play his way onto this for-blacks-only squad, some additional injuries occur, and Austin can finish what he started in the first six weeks of the 2010 season.
In limited playing time, newcomer Austin Collie appeared healthy and effective while emerging as a veteran who could step up and climb up an uncertain depth chart for a team in search of legitimate candidates to fill front-line roles at the position.
Though coaches are still advising him to not go full bore in practice, during Thursday’s exhibition Collie looked recovered from the ruptured patella tendon that forced him to miss all but one game for the Colts last season.
He had two receptions, including a 16-yard catch on fourth down to extend San Francisco’s final drive late in the fourth quarter. Veteran newcomer Kassim Osgood’s three receptions for 34 yards led all 49ers wideouts against the Broncos.
Not so pleasing has been the inconsistent development of A.J. Jenkins, San Francisco’s 2012 first-round draft pick. After finishing his rookie season with zero receptions, Jenkins was expected to make a much bigger contribution this year, particularly with the injuries to other top wideouts.
But he has been slow to come around this summer, and did not make much of an impression in the exhibition opener despite playing 39 snaps — 11 more than any other 49ers receiver.
Jenkins lost a fumble after his only reception, and was the intended receiver on both of San Francisco’s interceptions - the only two other passes thrown his way. He didn’t turn around to look for the football in time on the first pick, and on the second he didn’t go up in the air to fight for the football with a safety on an overthrown pass.
Currently the 27-year-old wideout is still fighting for a spot on the San Francisco 49ers roster. Collie did immediately impress in practice with his intelligence, route running and hands, but he still appears to be on the outside looking in.
Between Anquan Boldin, Marlon Moore, Kyle Williams, Quinton Patton and the newly acquired Jonathan Baldwin, the 49ers appear set at wideout — especially since they will have Mario Manningham and Michael Crabtree returning before season’s end. That means that Collie will more than likely be cut before August 31.
He may be wise to call it a career at that point.
Considering how impressive Collie has been in practice, it certainly was surprising to not see him enter last week’s game until the very late stages. Perhaps head coach Jim Harbaugh is thinking more about Collie’s long-term future than he is about any potential short-term gains for his team.
The Chargers also worked out former Indianapolis Colts starter Austin Collie, former Tennessee Titans starter Lavelle Hawkins, former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Derek Hagan and former Denver Broncos wide receiver Matt Willis.
Austin Collie apparently had a workout with the Chargers yesterday. With any luck, the would-be-superstar will land a spot and help the resurgent Phillip Rivers make a run at the playoffs in a difficult division…
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Source-Chargers-work-out-Austin-Collie-David-Nelson.html
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when the New England Patriots announced that they were bringing in veteran slot receiver Austin Collie. Collie, who reminds me of the kind of receivers the Patriots utilize well, has been a non-factor in the NFL the last few years after suffering multiple concussions. Now that we know how severe the long-term consequences of those concussions are, it’s hard for me to believe that Collie will be able to stay on the field this year for New England.
Collie fits the New England offensive system quite well. The Patriots love to use quick, underneath receivers in their passing game. Tom Brady is one of the best quarterbacks in the league at throwing the crossing and seam routes that Collie has ran effectively in his career. It’s not a lack of talent that has kept him on the sidelines recently, it’s all those concussions.
It's amazing how ignorant the DWFs are when it comes to Collie. They all think he's a slot receiver with "Welker skills when healthy". How many slot receivers are 6'-0" or 6'-1", as I've seen Collie listed? Sure he can go across the middle and make great plays but he can do that on the outside as well. If anything, I'd compare him to a Marques Colston type. Comparing him to Welker ad nauseam is absurd, lazy and racist.
Q: Are there any similarities between the systems Austin Collie has been in in the past and here to possibly make his transition easier?
BB: Yeah, I don't know – he seems like a pretty smart guy, so I think probably what we're doing are things he's done before, just had different ways of calling it or terminology or that type of thing. We'll see. We've had him on the field for one day, so we'll see how it goes today. We'll kind of recall where he is and see where we're at tomorrow and make a decision. I don't know.
Q: How would you describe him as a receiver – not specific to the one day you worked with him, but having worked on him coming out in the draft and then watching him in the NFL?
BB: I'd say in his career, he's played both inside and outside, so he has some versatility.
A snapshot look at the contract signed by receiver Austin Collie with the Patriots:
Term: 1 year (through 2013)
Signing bonus/incentives: None
Base salary: $715,000
The deal includes a split, so if Collie lands on a reserve list his base salary would be reduced. There is also an injury waiver as part of the deal, which is likely tied to Collie's past with concussions.
As one would expect given Collie's injury history, and the time of year on the NFL calendar, he isn't in a position with great leverage. From a team perspective, this is a deal that has as limited of a financial risk as possible for a player with Collie's experience.
Some Rhodes Scholar tweeted this at Adam Schefter: Quite@oBryan23h
@AdamSchefter @FieldYates this makes the Pats have the whitest WR core [sic] in NFL history.
I guess he thinks wide receivers in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s were predominantly black.
https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/385778064816627712
Does anyone recall a squad in which three active white receivers were all featured on the 53-man roster at the same time during any particular season over the past 25 years? New England flirted with the idea in 2011 with Edelman, Welker, and Ebert, but Ebert was cut a few days before the season.
I recall this site talking about how the Broncos had 4 white WRs out of 6 or 7 in the late 90s or early 2000s (not sure which) -with Shanahan- when I first started lurking in about 2005 or 2006. I don't remember all the names, but Ed McCaffrey was one of them. Of course the NFL has moved even further to the left (Shanahan has become even more of a corporate prostitute) as well as the country as a whole. The NFL even does business with h.c porn now. They featured a penthouse Superbowl swingers party. Don't give this evil corporation your money. Watch it at a bar if you have to watch it. I advise everyone to get a minimum cable package or none at all and just watch tolerable movies or show DVDs at your convenience.