Dwight Freeney is a little bitter. After spending 11 years with the Indianapolis Colts, the team sent him packing in favor of younger talent. Freeney struggled heavily on the free agent market. He took multiple visits to teams, but no one ever offered him a contract in the price range he desired. It was not until a member of the San Diego Chargers got injured that Freeney was able to sign with a team. Now, he is seeking a bit of revenge.
Freeney is ready to get some payback on former teammates and that starts with quarterback Peyton Manning. Freeney and Manning were teammates for 10 years in Indianapolis and now they will play on opposite sides of the field. With Manning in Denver and Freeney in San Diego, the two will faceoff and Freeney is ready to get at the quarterback at full speed.
"It would definitely be great to get after him. He's a great competitor, I'm a great competitor. How many times have I envisioned hitting him during practice, when he had that five-yard halo around him and you couldn't go in that circle? Millions of times. So it would be fun to get after him a little bit," Freeney said.
The defensive end insists that dreams of throwing Manning to the ground are not due to hard feelings with the quarterback. He refers to Manning as family and cherished his time as teammates with the future Hall of Famer.
Manning was a big advocate for Freeney joining the Denver Broncos. The team considered the veteran and even brought him in for a visit per Mannings request, but ultimately decided to pass on him. This type of situation has caused Freeney to start accusing NFL owners of making deals with each other to low-ball free agents during the offeseason.
The market was not kind to aging players and many free agents struggled to get on a team no matter how impressive their resume was.
"I basically think the owners got together and decided not to spend the cash on free agents. I definitely think that's part of it. I think the owners made a pact. There's only 32 of them and none of them broke ranks," Freeney said.
Freeney noted that he has been in the league for a long time and has never seen an offseason of this nature. He was offered multiple take-it-or-leave-it deals from teams. He ultimately signed with San Diego after Melvin Ingram went down with a likely season-ending injury.
