Bob Kravitz on Freeney

[Superman]

Nope.

But how long have people been harping on his constant double teams? 5-7years?

I don't know, man.

The article wasn't a glowing work of praise. It was just pointing out that Freeney has contributed, even though his stats suck. And his stats suck, make no mistake about it. He hasn't dominated every snap of every game, but the example of him pushing a double team well into the backfield and helping his teammates get a stop for a loss is a great snapshot of how he can be effective -- and has been -- without stats.

It doesn't even take double teams. Smart offenses, like the Patriots, are very cognizant of our pass rushers. Tom Brady said before the game a couple weeks ago that Dwight Freeney is the most intimidating defender he's ever faced. Don't you think Freeney's presence influenced the Patriots game plan? Brady said every play with Freeney is a game-changing play.

So yeah, he might lose a battle here and there, even to a second string tight end. But for a player who has long been derided as one-dimensional, even a liability against the run, highlighting a play where his presence made a significant difference against the run seems reasonable.

[mvbighead]

Lol, I read the same article you did.

Stats don't tell the whole story, but they make up about 75% of the story, and everyone gets judged on them .

You can say you don't care about numbers, but if he had 16 sacks, you'd be making a huge deal out of it.

Freeney has 6 tackles and 1 sack in 9 games played.

It would be great if he's pulling double coverage all the time and allowing other to get a ton of sacks, but that's not really the case. Plus, he's still being paid more than double what he should be getting. For example:

Mathis gets paid less, has played less games and almost 4 times the production. I love Freeney, but let's be real here. Heck, Jerry Hughes has 4 sacks and everyone makes fun of him constantly because of his stats!

I'm just glad you aren't the GM of this team! lol

Oh dear... you hear of a guy by the name of Casey Hampton?

The averages less than 1 sack per season. He averages less than 35 tackles per season. Yet he is one of the Steeler's most productive players.

Your 75% mark? You really think they'd write that article and assume that? If that were true, he'd be getting a massively failing grade. (2/16.5)* .75 = 9% + 25% = 34%

He'd be in the 34th percentile if he got the full remaining 25% of your scale, where the remaining 75% is based on sacks compared to the league leader. I'm sorry, but Dwight certainly is not in the bottom half of talent.

As for his pay. That was something that was established years ago, based on his level of performance at that time. He is certainly on the tail end, and his numbers and contributions will certainly decrease over the years. But he certainly isn't going to head to the front office and demand that they pay him half of the salary that he agreed upon 6 years ago.

Further, why is it so many players are considered greedy by holding out for big deals. And now, Freeney is considered overpaid for finishing out his deal? You can't have it both ways. He's fulfilling his contractual obligation. He's been a model player, a leader, etc. A big part of what Mathis has done her can be contributed to the matchup benefits he received being opposite of Freeney. And vice versa, but the bigger part generally goes Mathis way as teams were forced to double Freeney for so long.

I need to stop, because this simply makes my head hurt. I wasn't in disagreement with those that thought it best that we released Freeney prior to the start of the season based on money alone. But the FO decided to keep him. I am glad they did, but would not have faulted them had they hadn't. Ultimately, they make the money decisions. They felt it best to keep him at a 14 million salary. Why should we blame him for making the money he's rightfully earned over the years?

[Tark The Shark]

I'd prefer Freeney on one leg (a la 2009 SB) to Hughes. Every day, all day. Hughes remains to be an indiciplined non factor with a little ST talent. If we are going to dump Freeney, we need to draft high.

In games that I have seen Hughes in, he has produced more than Freeney at the same position.

Freeney has been slower to adjust to his new position while Hughes has done a lot better.

Personally, I would rather have a single teamed, faster, and healthy Hughes. Than a older, injury proned, slower, Freeney.

[BleedingBlue]

Freeny is my favorite player on this roster (2nd only to Manning when he was here). As much as I want to see him ALSO retire a colt, I don't trust Irsay to reward anyone for loyalty anymore. Age before production and at 32 with 6 tackles, He will be cut.

[hillbillybob]

what would be a reasonable contract to get dwight back 4 years 25 mil

yeah lets keep freeney till hes 37

[icf]

No way or how the Colts should pay Freeney $8M next season

[GoColts8818]

Freeney still draws attention that does free up other players. Is he worth what he's getting paid? No clearly not. With that said I do think him being on the field does have value to our team. With that said I fully expect Freeney to sign with a 4/3 team in the off-season and for us to look for a true 3/4 OLB in the off-season.

[lollygagger8]

I need to stop

Agreed.

[pacolts56]

Freeney still draws attention that does free up other players. Is he worth what he's getting paid? No clearly not. With that said I do think him being on the field does have value to our team. With that said I fully expect Freeney to sign with a 4/3 team in the off-season and for us to look for a true 3/4 OLB in the off-season.

Same here....the difficulty we had with Dwight's existing contract and possibly moving him, plus his value as far as retaining some veteran leadership on defense and maintaining his still-effective pairing with Mathis...were no doubt factors in keeping him for the transition.

Given our record in a year of transition....Grigson obviously struck a pretty good balance, even if it came at a high price that was already baked in the cake.

But one year into the rebuild and with Freeney's contract fulfilled, I also expect that a couple true 3-4 OLBs will be sought as the defense is further addressed.