Nick Collins hasn’t played in the NFL since Week 2 of the 2011 NFL season after a neck injury required surgery to fuse two vertebrae together.
But after more than two full seasons away from the game, Collins says he’s fully healthy and looking to return to the league.
Collins declared he was “ready for action” and “ready to dominate” on his Twitter account Tuesday. Now he just needs a team to take a chance on him.
“I’m optimistic about it,” Collins said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. “My whole purpose for sending that tweet out is to just let teams know that if they’re willing to take a chance, I’m open to it.”
Collins says he has fully recovered from the surgery that fused his C-3 and C-4 vertebrae together.
“I’m 100 percent healed from the surgery, so if teams want to bring me in and get me evaluated by their doctors -- or whatever doctors they want me to go see -- then I’ll do that for them,” Collins said. “That was the whole purpose, to let them know I’m still out there and I’m still optimistic about playing.”
The Packers wouldn’t clear Collins to play after the neck injury and ultimately released him in April 2012. Collins had come off three straight Pro Bowl season and had posted 17 interceptions in three years.
If Collins is cleared to play once again he could be a bargain steal on the free agent market this offseason. Collins is just 30 years old and could have several strong years of production remaining if he can return to his former level of play.