At this stage, is Collins as good as Eric Reid? Will he finish up his college as good or better than Eric? I was in a discussion with someone about this a few weeks back.
Reid's exceptional season was the equivolent of Collins' season this past year (i.e., sophomore seasons). So Reid is way ahead of the curve so far. I would say Landon's sophomore season may not have been as good as Reid's true freshman season. Remember the interception vs Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl? That was when we knew we had us a special player.
Who is ahead of you on the depth chart determines if a player is living up to the hype in many cases. There are a lot of highly regarded players who have to wait their turn. I thought Collins played well when he became the starter.
Patrick Peterson was behind people on the depth chart as a true freshman "waiting his turn". He was so otherworldly great that Chavis had no choice but to start him midway through the season.
I think the better questions to ask and answer are the following two, which compare Landon Collins with others in his cohort. 1. "Was Landon Collins the best safety prospect coming out of high school in 2012?" 2. "Will Landon Collins be the highest rated safety prospect in the 2016 NFL Draft?" My guess is that in 2016 he will NOT be the highest rated safety prospect in the NFL Draft. Back to Tony Brown in the thread that bears his name....
To defend Eric, I ask the guy I was discussing this with, "Would a team like the 9'ers move up in the draft to pick Landon in the first round?" Didn't get an answer, so I took that as a no. Oh, I could go on.
