The business of sports can be devastatingly cruel to some players, especially when they feel they can still play at a high level for the team discarding them.
Dwight Freeney has now become the latest big time player in the NFL to experience that unsettling emotion. With all the off season moves involving the departure of Bill Polian, Jim Caldwell, and Peyton Manning, he has been left in the shadows to ponder where he would be playing football this upcoming season.
Sure, newly hired Colts G.M. Ryan Grigson has stated that Freeney will be a Colt this year, but his $14 million salary (which will count $19 million against the salary cap) screams out to the contrary. At age 32 and carrying a monstrous price tag, Freeney’s day as a Colt are sadly over. I say sadly, as this man has been a warrior, and up until that horrific injury against the New York Jets in January of 2010, he had been literally indestructible in a position that chews players up.
He would go on to defy the doctors and play in the Super Bowl with completely torn ligaments in his ankle and thereby compromise his health for the balance of his career. But the reality here is this man is no longer the monster of a player who registered over 102 sacks in his seven-time Pro Bowl career, and the Colts have been attempting to get anything they can in exchange for Freeney.
Along the way they have resigned Robert Mathis and inked free agent defensive end Cory Redding to a three-year deal as well. All of this bodes poorly for Freeney who to date has been diplomatic about Colts coach Chuck Pagano’s new defensive scheme, one that would add injury to insult by forcing him, in essence, to line up as a outside linebacker. However, the proverbial writing is on the wall here and in the words of Michael Corleone, this is business and not personal.
There can be no denying Freeney has been stellar for the Colts both on and off the field. His contributions to the community of Indianapolis are noted and worthy of all the recognition he has received, but his time as an effective football player has expired, and his high price tag coupled with his inability to play at a high level makes him logically expendable.
We cannot be too sad for someone who made millions of dollars, but it is unfortunate we will not have this class individual around anymore. Hats off to Freeney regarding his legacy, but his time to go has come.
Danny Bridges can be reached at Bridgeshd@aol.com.
