Any word on dwight freeney?

[unitas-we-stand]

Just wondering if anyone has been able to find anything real on the chances of freeney staying with us this season. I've looked high and low and keep coming to a dead end

[Gavin]

Havent found anything concrete yet

[21isSuperman]

Pagano has envisioned him as a Suggs-type player and Grigson came out a while ago and said something to the effect of "Freeney is a Colt. Period". I personally see him staying with Indy, because of those two statements.

[Gramz]

Pagano has envisioned him as a Suggs-type player and Grigson came out a while ago and said something to the effect of "Freeney is a Colt. Period". I personally see him staying with Indy, because of those two statements.

why hasn't he signed yet...??? excuse my naivety, but I'm really curious?

[Gavin]

Pagano has envisioned him as a Suggs-type player and Grigson came out a while ago and said something to the effect of "Freeney is a Colt. Period". I personally see him staying with Indy, because of those two statements.

BAD move to keep him PERIOD in my opinion if hes going to be tried out at linebacker then why dd we bring other linebackers in this is looking like a 19 million dollar gamble, Im not liking it, as I said before if it comes down to Dwight Freeny having to stop an Arian Foster or a Chris Johnson type player in open space theirs no way Im betting 19 million dollars he can

[Blackhawk4]

why hasn't he signed yet...??? excuse my naivety, but I'm really curious?

He is signed, but there was talks of him being traded and him signing an extension to help lower cap space. Neither of the two happened. He's a colt who's about to make bank with about 19 million dollars coming in this upcoming season.

[Gavin]

He is signed, but there was talks of him being traded and him signing an extension to help lower cap space. Neither of the two happened. He's a colt who's about to make bank with about 19 million dollars coming in this upcoming season.

dont forget player Linebacker for the first time in his life at 32

[Gramz]

He is signed, but there was talks of him being traded and him signing an extension to help lower cap space. Neither of the two happened. He's a colt who's about to make bank with about 19 million dollars coming in this upcoming season.

Thank you. I had thought he was signed, but reading the above I got confused. Thanks.

[21isSuperman]

BAD move to keep him PERIOD in my opinion if hes going to be tried out at linebacker then why dd we bring other linebackers in this is looking like a 19 million dollar gamble, Im not liking it, as I said before if it comes down to Dwight Freeny having to stop an Arian Foster or a Chris Johnson type player in open space theirs no way Im betting 19 million dollars he can

I wouldn't say that. They wouldn't use him to drop back into coverage very often. He would be a Ware type of guy who rushes almost every play. His contract is a little crazy and it would be awesome if we could restructure it. With that said, he is a leader on the defense and if we do bring in a guy like Janoris Jenkins, I would look to guys like Freeney to keep him in check. And if you ask me, his run defense is underrated. I'm not saying he can stop CJ2K one on one in the open field, but he is better than what people give him credit for, in my opinion

[Gavin]

I wouldn't say that. They wouldn't use him to drop back into coverage very often. He would be a Ware type of guy who rushes almost every play. His contract is a little crazy and it would be awesome if we could restructure it. With that said, he is a leader on the defense and if we do bring in a guy like Janoris Jenkins, I would look to guys like Freeney to keep him in check. And if you ask me, his run defense is underrated. I'm not saying he can stop CJ2K one on one in the open field, but he is better than what people give him credit for, in my opinion

The only thing I would have to say is stats would make the perfect argument when it comes to him stopping the run, the guy hasnt been anything close to a tackling machine which is what is needed to stop the run, again Im not question his value to us in the locker room and over the those stats speak for themselves but those stats werent at linebacker, could it work? yes? Im just not willing to bet 19 million that it will especially given his age, I really like what he has done for us Ill stress that, but hes going to be playing a whole new animal now when at times he will have to cover (even if not very much I know the good teams will exploit it). again not trying to start a full on argument just debate

[21isSuperman]

The only thing I would have to say is stats would make the perfect argument when it comes to him stopping the run, the guy hasnt been anything close to a tackling machine which is what is needed to stop the run, again Im not question his value to us in the locker room and over the those stats speak for themselves but those stats werent at linebacker, could it work? yes? Im just not willing to bet 19 million that it will especially given his age, I really like what he has done for us Ill stress that, but hes going to be playing a whole new animal now when at times he will have to cover (even if not very much I know the good teams will exploit it). again not trying to start a full on argument just debate

no worries, I'm taking this as a debate too, not an argument in any way. Stats don't tell the whole story though. We can't expect him to have many tackles if teams are running to the other side most of the time. Or if he gets double teamed and the offense runs the ball his way.

[Gavin]

no worries, I'm taking this as a debate too, not an argument in any way. Stats don't tell the whole story though. We can't expect him to have many tackles if teams are running to the other side most of the time. Or if he gets double teamed and the offense runs the ball his way.

he wouldnt be the first person to get double teamed though and other have made tackles

[coltsfanatic24]

i think we should trade him for at least a 2nd or two 3rds. teams like the falcons,bears, raiders need pass rush help. we picks to help rebuild this team primarly secondary help.

[21isSuperman]

he wouldnt be the first person to get double teamed though and other have made tackles

I haven't looked at any statistics, so I wouldn't know. But we don't know how often teams ran towards Dwight as opposed to running away from him. It would be much harder for him to make the tackle if they run to Mathis' side every time. Teams might see that Mathis is smaller, so they might want to run to his side more often, and have their larger O-linemen take on a smaller front line of defense

[bahhummbug]

I mean been saying this awhile drop him like a hot tater.If he gets 12 sacks and 5 forced fumbles and 2 def passes thats 1 mill for ea.Keep the 14 mill we save push it to next years cap or sign someone else.Freeney is horrible against the run and not worth 1 mill plus a sack.And Iam a huge Freeney fan just think 14 mill more not risk 1 pass rusher when we need so much he cant cover he cant def run cmon man drop him.

[Fr33UpFr33ney]

I mean been saying this awhile drop him like a hot tater.If he gets 12 sacks and 5 forced fumbles and 2 def passes thats 1 mill for ea.Keep the 14 mill we save push it to next years cap or sign someone else.Freeney is horrible against the run and not worth 1 mill plus a sack.And Iam a huge Freeney fan just think 14 mill more not risk 1 pass rusher when we need so much he cant cover he cant def run cmon man drop him.

I question everybodies status as a fan.

Have you guys not been watching dwight freeney over the past few years. He was one bad year, in a year everyone had a bad year and you act like he's a terrible player.

Freeney was the heart and soul of our defense, his absence the main reason we lost the Last super bowl we were in and and the most non stop motor of anyone in the entire league. If you going by stats, Lets drop brown...and Mathis and Wanyne, they all had down years.

[Malakai432]

Pretty much just seems like a waiting game on him. It might be awhile before we find out what the deal is. Pagano seems high on him, but that's about it. If Pagano sees something in him, I'll take his word for the mean time.

[Gavin]

I question everybodies status as a fan.

Have you guys not been watching dwight freeney over the past few years. He was one bad year, in a year everyone had a bad year and you act like he's a terrible player.

Freeney was the heart and soul of our defense, his absence the main reason we lost the Last super bowl we were in and and the most non stop motor of anyone in the entire league. If you going by stats, Lets drop brown...and Mathis and Wanyne, they all had down years.

I really like freeny but I am one of those that say to trade (not going to happen now in my opinion), or release him, obviously not because of lack of production last year because I believe he had at least 8 sacks which is ok by Freeny standards but not great but the reason Id like to see him released is because he will be playing a new position for the first time at 32 years old and will be making 19 million dollars doing it in the final year of his contract thats the reason it seems logical to me to release him

[GoColts8818]

why hasn't he signed yet...??? excuse my naivety, but I'm really curious?

He is signed what most people want is for him to extend his contract to lower his cap number for this season. If he doesn't however this is the last year of his current deal I believe so he's under contract.

As for why he hasn't done the extenstion for a while it was because his agent had died last year and he didn't get a new one till a few weeks ago for anyone to talk to about a contract. Beyond that who knows, most of us agree that 19 million is too much to pay Freeney for this year so we are guessing that if the Colts are going to keep him this year they will want to give him a new deal to extend him beyond this year lowering that cap hit. It could be that the Colts have have decided to just pay him the 19 million this year and see if he can make the move to a 3-4 linebacker or not. If he can't his contract is up and you don't have to cut him to get out of the contract and you don't take any kind of cap hit. Then if he can and we can't get a new deal in place we can always franchise tag him as of right now he is due to be about our only major free agent next season. It's a very expensive option but it's one none the less.

It could also be one of the following maybe Freeney has no interest in taking less money. If that's the case it doesn't matter how bad the Colts want to redo his contract if Freeney wont play ball they can't make him. It could also be that the Colts just haven't gotten around to it yet or they are working on it and it's just in the news cycle.

[colts1993]

I love freeney but i dont think he will excell in the 3-4, so we should be fair for us as a team and for freeney and try to trade him.

[GoColts8818]

I love freeney but i dont think he will excell in the 3-4, so we should be fair for us as a team and for freeney and try to trade him.

I'd agree with that if there was proof beyond people saying on a message board it wont work. Who knows maybe Freeney becomes a monster linebacker in a 3-4 and this is the best thing to ever happen to him. There doesn't sound like there is much of a trade market for Freeney so I think it is very worth it to the Colts to let Freeney play out the last year of his contract if they can swing it with the cap and see if Freeney can make the move to the 3-4. If he can then you resign him after this season or franchise tag him and go from there. If he can't you just let Freeney walk and move on.

[Icelandic_Colt]

Look, this 3-4 thing is being completely overblown IMO. We're going to be lining up with some sort of a nickel or dime look much more often than a base 3-4 and then we'll need someone to rush the passer = Freeney.

By looking at some stats, we can see that Baltimore for instance, only lined up in their base 3-4 defense about 6% of their snaps last year! 36% was in a 4-3 and about 50% in some sort of a nickel package(4-2-5/2-4-5 or 3-3-5), according to ProFootballFocus.

Another stat is that in 2010, Terrell Suggs only dropped into coverage 9% of the time he spent on the field.

So, I doubt we'll be seeing Freeney do much more than rush the passer. He's underrated against the run when playing as a lineman IMO and on those 6 out af 100 plays he'll be lined up as the OLB in a pure 3-4, I'm sure he'll do just fine.

Would I love for him to restructure? Of course, 19 million is a lot, but we can't afford to let him go just yet. Maybe next year, when the defense has been properly installed and we can rely more on blitzing for rushing the passer, but this year, him and Mathis are going to be as crucial as always.

[lollygagger8]

I don't think he's worth the money we are wheelbarrowing out to him for just rushing the passer. I love the beast as much as anybody else, but he makes way too much money for his production numbers.

So if all he can do is rush the passer (what he's been doing for entire career) does he just take himself out of every run play (what he's been doing his entire career) by rushing the passer? Then all the QB does is dink the ball to nice big open spot where he should be dropping back into coverage on pass plays?

I know he can pull QB's down by the jersey, but that's not going to work on Arian Foster or other good RB's. I hope he can tackle as well as Mathis can.

[bahhummbug]

I question everybodies status as a fan.

Have you guys not been watching dwight freeney over the past few years. He was one bad year, in a year everyone had a bad year and you act like he's a terrible player.

Freeney was the heart and soul of our defense, his absence the main reason we lost the Last super bowl we were in and and the most non stop motor of anyone in the entire league. If you going by stats, Lets drop brown...and Mathis and Wanyne, they all had down years.

Its not about having a bad year its about the money and new defense rebuild.YOU really believe he can cover or stop the run?LBs dont make 19 mill a year?

[vtcoltsfan802]

What I was wondering is if this whole OLB experiment doesn't work out does that hurt his trade value during the season or would it not have an effect. I could see a contender(s) losing a DE for the season early on, then come knocking on our door mid season, would that increase his value from where it stands today?

[Balzer40]

What I was wondering is if this whole OLB experiment doesn't work out does that hurt his trade value during the season or would it not have an effect. I could see a contender(s) losing a DE for the season early on, then come knocking on our door mid season, would that increase his value from where it stands today?

1st of all, I don't think him playing bad at OLB would have any effect on his already proven pass rushing skills.

Secondly, it would be near impossible to trade Freeney mid season. Teams will already be up against their cap and will not be able to add a 14 million dollar contract.

[vtcoltsfan802]

1st of all, I don't think him playing bad at OLB would have any effect on his already proven pass rushing skills.

Secondly, it would be near impossible to trade Freeney mid season. Teams will already be up against their cap and will not be able to add a 14 million dollar contract.

Good point on the team that would be trading for Freeney cap space, didn't think about that. darn, I was hoping for maybe a 2nd round pick for Freeney before the trade deadline this season. unless ofcoarse we are in serious contention of the AFC south

[dgambill]

1st of all, I don't think him playing bad at OLB would have any effect on his already proven pass rushing skills.

Secondly, it would be near impossible to trade Freeney mid season. Teams will already be up against their cap and will not be able to add a 14 million dollar contract.

If we trade him during the season hasn't he already been paid by us? If not I would assume it is prorated then. Say by week 6 we pay 40% of his salary or something. Or I don't know but it happens in other sports where a team picks up a portion of his salary. I am not sure how the cap works in all those instances. There are teams out there that could still sign him that have cap space. Also we could do a sign and trade if say his agent works out a new contract with another team. There are options. I think we will hear more about Freeney after the draft. Teams still have the opportunity to upgrade but once that is done...teams will see what they have and trades will increase. Also some teams may have injuries early in offseason or season that would make him more valuable. Or...he stays and plays...and we pay through the nose.

[Coffeedrinker]

For those that are saying Freeney is horrible against the run, what exactly are you basing that on, tackle stats? It's certainly not from watching him. His tackling technique is sound, he does a good job of wrapping up, he has good explosion in his lower body when he makes contact. He has shown he knows how to read the plays and react and follow the ball.

Do you take into account at all that Freeney's only responsibility against the run was to tackle the runner IF he runs into him on the way to the passer? And the coaches and Polian actually stated that several times over the past 9 years.

[oldunclemark]

If we trade him during the season hasn't he already been paid by us? If not I would assume it is prorated then. Say by week 6 we pay 40% of his salary or something. Or I don't know but it happens in other sports where a team picks up a portion of his salary. I am not sure how the cap works in all those instances. There are teams out there that could still sign him that have cap space. Also we could do a sign and trade if say his agent works out a new contract with another team. There are options. I think we will hear more about Freeney after the draft. Teams still have the opportunity to upgrade but once that is done...teams will see what they have and trades will increase. Also some teams may have injuries early in offseason or season that would make him more valuable. Or...he stays and plays...and we pay through the nose.

We could trade Dwight Freeney on draft day..

I have not heard anything from HIM saying he's OK with being a hybrid LB..

We coild also trade Freeny to a desperate contender for a No.1 or No. 2 draft choce at mid-season.

[dgambill]

We could trade Dwight Freeney on draft day..

I have not heard anything from HIM saying he's OK with being a hybrid LB..

We coild also trade Freeny to a desperate contender for a No.1 or No. 2 draft choce at mid-season.

Agreed. I don't think Freeney is going to extend either because he doesn't know if he will be happy in this new defense. That and I think he is sure he will get another big payday next offseason considering what pass rushers get in the open market and the cap going up with the new TV deals. There are teams out there that need a DE and have cap space or would be in contention. He could play well for us who knows but for his price and long term I don't see him as a fit.

[Holden89]

I'm really not that worried about Freeney. As others have said in this topic, his role really isn't changing...like at all. He'll probably drop back maybe once or twice a game, just for the sake of some confusion, but he's basically going to stay a DE. Yeah, I wish he would sign an extension to lower his cap, but I'm just not sure I could take losing ANOTHER great Colt this year. There's little to no trade market for him, as he's fairly old for a speed DE, and he is worth way more to our team than any other. (Wouldn't be happy trading him for ANYTHING less than a 2nd...)

Freeney will be fine...

[Gavin]

For those that are saying Freeney is horrible against the run, what exactly are you basing that on, tackle stats? It's certainly not from watching him. His tackling technique is sound, he does a good job of wrapping up, he has good explosion in his lower body when he makes contact. He has shown he knows how to read the plays and react and follow the ball.

Do you take into account at all that Freeney's only responsibility against the run was to tackle the runner IF he runs into him on the way to the passer? And the coaches and Polian actually stated that several times over the past 9 years.

anytime a runner runs in your direction if he is within tackling range or you can catch him you become responsible for bringing that offensive player down or you run the risk of the opposing player gaining more yards, Freenys purpose was to put pressure on the quarterback and get sacks but when the ball is ran at his direction then he is responsible, as for Polian stating that, that statement was a flaw in our armor as well, Linemen are supposed to put pressure on the quarterback but when the linebackers were expected to drop back on almost every play then the defensive line is automatically responsible for the run AND putting pressure on the quarterback if the QB drops back to pass why? because the linebackers were to busy back in coverage. defensive ends are just as responsible with stopping the run as defensive tackles especially in the defensive scheme our guys were expected to do, as for what Im basing it on Im basing on being around the bottom of the league the last 14 years in stopping the run

[GoColts8818]

anytime a runner runs in your direction if he is within tackling range or you can catch him, Freenys purpose was to put pressure on the quarterback and get sacks but when the balls is ran at his direction then he is responsible, as for Polian stating that, that statement was a flaw in our armor as well, Linemen are supposed to put pressure on the quarterback but when the linebackers were expected to drop back on almost every play then the defensive line is automatically responsible for the run AND putting pressure on the quarterback if the QB drops back to pass why? because the linebackers were to busy back in coverage. defensive ends are just as responsible with stopping the run as defensive tackles especially in the defensive our guys were expected to do

Only if the coaches tell you play them. The Colts coaches at the time didn't. They counted on the OLB and when we had Sanders, the safties coming up to get the backs. That's why when the Colts run defense was good you saw so much gang tackling. They didn't hide the fact they wanted Freeney and Mathis to rush the passer and rush the passer only. You can argue that wasn't smart by them and you might very well be right but it's what the coaches asked them to do on most plays. I've said before ripping Freeney because he didn't play the run very well is like ripping Peyton Manning because he didn't run bootlegs enough. It's not what the coaches asked Manning to do and it's losing total sight of what Manning or in this case Freeney is good at.

I think it's safe to say Pagano might ask Freeney to do more than just rush the passer in the new defense. Let's see how he does before we just say he can't do it. I don't think it's a case of Freeney can't as much as it's a case of the coaches didn't ask him to do it.

[Gavin]

Coaches dont have to ask you to do it if the ball is ran right at ya your supposed to make that tackle, assignments can change in a blink of a eye or a signal, defensive linemen should be able to adjust

[GAColt]

To clear some things up on Freeney's contract:

$14m of the $19m was paid years ago when he signed the contract. That is the pro-rated portion of his signing bonus. Cash he is getting this year is his $5m salary. We get the $14m cap hit whether he stays, us released, or is traded. The only way to reduce the $14m is to extend his contract. Since that would take more bonus money and a long term commitment on the Colts part, it would be silly to do that.

At the end of the day, the Colts are paying him $5m to see how he fits in the 3-4. If he turns out to be great in it, sign him to about a 3 year contract at the end of the season. If the defense doesn't suit his talents, say goodbye, thank him for his contribution over the years, and say "see you at your ring of honor induction when you retire".

[Gavin]

http://contractsalary.blogspot.com/2012/03/dwight-freeney-indianapolis-colts.html, all of the Sites I have read have pointed out hes do 19 plus million this year

[GAColt]

http://contractsalary.blogspot.com/2012/03/dwight-freeney-indianapolis-colts.html, all of the Sites I have read have pointed out hes do 19 plus million this year

I had my salary and bonus numbers switched around. $5m is the pro-rated signing bonus, and $14m is the salary. So we are stuck with $5m against the cap, not $14m.

[Gavin]

I had my salary and bonus numbers switched around. $5m is the pro-rated signing bonus, and $14m is the salary. So we are stuck with $5m against the cap, not $14m.

I dont know that for sure I havent worked it out but I think a few others would disagree on that who have worked things out financially here

[Warhorse]

Look, this 3-4 thing is being completely overblown IMO. We're going to be lining up with some sort of a nickel or dime look much more often than a base 3-4 and then we'll need someone to rush the passer = Freeney.

By looking at some stats, we can see that Baltimore for instance, only lined up in their base 3-4 defense about 6% of their snaps last year! 36% was in a 4-3 and about 50% in some sort of a nickel package(4-2-5/2-4-5 or 3-3-5), according to ProFootballFocus.

Another stat is that in 2010, Terrell Suggs only dropped into coverage 9% of the time he spent on the field.

So, I doubt we'll be seeing Freeney do much more than rush the passer. He's underrated against the run when playing as a lineman IMO and on those 6 out af 100 plays he'll be lined up as the OLB in a pure 3-4, I'm sure he'll do just fine.

Would I love for him to restructure? Of course, 19 million is a lot, but we can't afford to let him go just yet. Maybe next year, when the defense has been properly installed and we can rely more on blitzing for rushing the passer, but this year, him and Mathis are going to be as crucial as always.

The single most informed post in this thread. Well done.