The Cleveland Browns brought Maliek Collins in this offseason to help their defense thrive and he's been doing just that. Sure, it's a small sample size but to say that Collins has been a tremendous addition to this Browns defense would be an understatement, quite frankly.
Playing in Jim Schwartz's scheme has clearly paid off the 30-year-old Collins, who has been dominating for the Browns early in the season. In three games with Cleveland, Collins has tallied five total tackles, three QB hits, and 1.5 sacks.
PFF has also been impressed with his game, giving him an overall grade of 90.5, which is good for the second-best defensive interior lineman. His pass rushing grade of 91.5 is the best among defensive interior linemen.
Maliek Collins got his wish of playing in Jim Schwartz's scheme
In the thrilling win over the Packers, Collins got on the sack board for the first time as a Brown with a key takedown of Jordan Love while hitting him twice in the game as well. He was a massive piece on defense in the 13-10 win and has been worth the money the Browns have paid him.
Collins has always been a solid player in the league but he's excelling in Schwartz's scheme and showing that, even though he's 30 years old, he's not slowing down just yet. He's dialed up his play so much since arriving in Cleveland and been exactly what the Browns were hoping for when they signed him in March.
The former Nebraska Cornhusker was a third-round pick by the Cowboys in the 2016 draft, played for them for four years, and then started jumping around different teams. He spent the 2020 season with the Raiders, then three years with the Texans, one year with the Niners, and now he's calling Cleveland home.
It's still early in the season, but so far, the return on investment has been everything the Browns could have hoped for. Let's hope that continues.