The New England Patriots started the season with two starting linebackers heading toward free agency in 2017.
New England traded one of them, Jamie Collins, to the Cleveland Browns for a compensatory draft pick on Oct. 31 while holding on to former Alabama All-American Dont'a Hightower.
Hightower and the Patriots are heading for Super Bowl LI. Collins and the Browns won one game.
But Collins got a nice consolation prize on Monday - a four-year contract that the NFL Network reported is worth $50 million, with $26 million of the deal guaranteed.
The average value of Collins' contract -- $12.