Former Green Bay Packers Pro Bowl safety Nick Collins is putting an end to his comeback attempt, on the advice of his doctor.
Collins, who suffered a neck injury in week two of the 2011 season and was released by the Packers in the offseason, had been working out in Florida while deciding whether to pursue a return to the NFL with another team.
Collins’ specialist advised him to put an end to that bid.
“However, at a recent evaluation with the specialist who performed his neck surgery,” Jason La Canfora writes, “Collins was advised not to pursue football … effectively ending the process.”
Collins had cervical fusion surgery, a process similar to what Peyton Manning underwent last season. After evaluating his recovery, Packers coach Mike McCarthy said he wouldn’t want Collins to play again if Collins were his son.
In his seven-year career, Collins had 21 picks and returned four of those for touchdowns. He was a three-time Pro Bowler.
Certainly, we’ll always remember his interception return for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLV, which was probably the most important play in that game.
If there’s a bright side to any of this, other than the fact Collins can still walk, it’s that he’ll retire a Packer and not end up with some other garbage team.
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Unfucking fair….
Fuck man, that just sucks. What a shame. My favorite packers safety since LeRoy. I will always remember and appreciate what he did for the team.
Really wish Nick well. Glad he’s not going to risk further injury.
We really need to stop giving 36 to safeties. We’ve lost two guys that were on HOF career tracks to career ending injuries. At least both were around long enough to help lead the Pack back to the championship!
Terrible. Great player, and seemed like a good guy. Glad he’ll be able to walk though
Great Packer, this is good news but at least he is walking away healthy. Hope to see him retire as a Packer and stay close to the team.
Good luck Nick!
I’d love to see the Packers offer him a job coaching the secondary sometime down the road.
Agreed.
Great player and even better person.
The job offer would be awesome but alot of football players have a hard time crossing back over into teaching. For example: why hasn’t any coach asked LeRoy Butler. But yet he is doing XOs with Tom Silverstein on each game the Packers play during the season.
I’m pretty sure coaching isn’t a 40 hour a week job, probably closer to 60-70. I think a lot of guys want to go live their life with their newfound riches.
Nick Collins gave all of us some great years as a Green Bay Packer. He only got better and better every year in the league. I remember him starting as a 2nd round pick rookie and he went through all of the rookie mistakes, but he only got better as a player. I wish he were still out there playing because we could use his playmaking ability and veteran leadership on this young Packers team. You will be dearly missed Nick Collins
It would be nice to see the Packers offer some kind of inturn coaching job.