Former 17-year NFL veteran quarterback Kerry Collins isn’t heard from much these days, so when he gives an interview, it’s always worth a listen.
Collins, now 50, spoke to NFL analyst and podcast host Ross Tucker this week on a myriad of subjects. Collins was the fifth overall selection in the 1995 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers.
Collin had some immediate success, leading the expansion Panthers all the way to the NFC Championship Game in his second season. He hit the skids shortly after, succumbing to alcohol issues and was subsequently released by Carolina.
After a short stint with the New Orleans Saints, Collins was signed by New York Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi, who saw the rifle-armed former Penn State star as a possible solution to Big Blue’s quarterback woes after wallowing with names such as Dave Brown, Danny Kanell and Kent Graham.
By Year 2, the Collins reclamation project was rolling along. He led the Giants to a 12-4 record and a 41-0 whitewashing of the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game. The Giants lost the Super Bowl miserably to the Baltimore Ravens, 34-7 that season.
Collins would lead the Giants back to the playoffs in 2002 but after then the team saw his limitations and released him before the 2004 season, replacing him with Kurt Warner and Eli Manning. Collins went on to play eight more seasons in the NFL for Oakland, Tennessee, and Indianapolis.
Collins told Tucker that he wished he had another crack at the Super Bowl after performing so poorly against Baltimore. It never came.
“Was I an elite quarterback? No,” said Collins. “But I was a lot closer to the top than I was to the bottom.”
That is true. As a thrower of the football, there was no throw Collins couldn’t make. As a signal caller and field general, however, he was lacking at times.
His best statistical years came with the Giants, most notably 2000 and 2002 and as of 2018, still held or shared seven New York Giants franchise records.
