He signed with Forest Green Rovers in May 2017 and stayed with the club for two seasons before joining non-League Yeovil Town in June 2019.

Born in Telford, Shropshire, Collins was promoted to Wolverhampton Wanderers' first-team squad for the first time in January 2007, signing his first professional forms the next month.

He was transfer listed in late September, along with the entire Port Vale squad, after manager Micky Adams saw his team slip to a third consecutive defeat.

[24] Upon signing the deal Collins praised current and former training staff at the club, naming Dean Glover, Lee Sinnott, Mark Grew, Geoff Horsfield, and Micky Adams as people who helped his progress 'massively'.

[27] Vale conceded eighteen goals in the twelve games that Collins missed,[28] before keeping a clean sheet on his return to the first-team on 12 November, a goalless draw with Grimsby Town in the FA Cup.

[31] Collins was named as Port Vale's best left-back of the 2010s in a public poll taken in January 2020 by The Sentinel; he received 50% of the vote, ahead of Carl Dickinson (40%).

[38] "Shrews" boss Graham Turner, his former manager at Hereford, said that he would provide valuable defensive experience and cover following an injury to Joe Jacobson.

[48] He made 43 appearances in the 2014–15 campaign but was not offered a new contract in the summer as Wilder opted to use Zander Diamond and Ryan Cresswell as his new centre-back partnership.

[49] Collins joined League Two club Mansfield Town in June 2015, with "Stags" manager Adam Murray praising his ability and experience, saying that "to bring Lee in to the building is a big one for us".

He missed much of the 2018–19 season with a long-term injury but returned to fitness in time to feature in both legs of the play-off semi-final defeat to Tranmere Rovers.

On 26 June 2019, Collins signed a two-year contract with newly relegated National League side Yeovil Town; manager Darren Sarll said that "Lee is a winner and his experience and leadership will make him a big part of this squad".

[58] He made 31 appearances for the "Glovers" in the 2019–20 season, which was permanently suspended on 26 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, with Yeovil in fourth-place.

[60] His last appearance for Yeovil was on 6 February 2021 against Stockport County where he was shown a straight red card for a late tackle,[61] although he was an unused substitute in a match a week before his death.

[63] Port Vale manager Micky Adams claimed that Collins always gave his all in training, and was a "remarkable athlete... [in] terms of fitness.

"[64] Collins attended Thomas Telford School as a youth alongside fellow professionals such as Elliott Bennett and Danny Guthrie.

[65] Collins was convicted of assault in April 2013 after punching and kicking a man at a pub in Wellington, Shropshire the previous year.

[66][67] On 31 March 2021, Collins was found dead in his room in the Lanes Hotel at West Coker at the age of 32 in an apparent suicide by hanging.

[73] It was heard during the inquest that Collins had been drinking heavily every day for the past decade, and had been under the influence of alcohol and cocaine at the time of his suicide.