Dwight Freeney

Dwight Freeney

At a game in Denver, September 2010.
No. 93     Indianapolis Colts
Defensive End
Personal information
Date of birth: February 19, 1980 (1980-02-19) (age 31)
Place of birth: Hartford, Connecticut
Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Weight: 268 lb (122 kg)
Career information
College: Syracuse
NFL Draft: 2002 / Round: 1 / Pick: 11
Debuted in 2002 for the Indianapolis Colts
Career history
Indianapolis Colts (2002-present)
Career highlights and awards
6× Pro Bowl selection (2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010) 3× First-team All-Pro selection (2004, 2005, 2009) 1× Second-team All-Pro selection (2003) Super Bowl XLI champion AFC Defensive Player Of The Year (2005) NFL Sacks Champion (2004) Led NFL with 16 sacks in 2004 Indianapolis Colts all-time sacks leader with 90 NFL 2000s All-Decade Team
Career NFL statistics as of Week 6, 2011
Tackles	277
Sacks	98.5
Interceptions	0
Stats at NFL.com

Dwight Jason Freeney (born February 19, 1980 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American football defensive end who currently plays for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. He was drafted in the 1st round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Syracuse University.

Early years

Freeney attended Bloomfield High School in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Freeney was a four sport letterman, earning four letters in baseball—where he was coached by Alphonso Ford—and basketball; three in football—where he played both ways, and one in soccer—in which he played goalie in his freshman year before switching over to football. Freeney currently holds the record for sacks at his high school. Bloomfield retired his #44 football jersey.^[1] During his youth, Freeney idolized New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, whom he met at a charity golf tournament after turning pro.^[2]

College career

A 2-year starter at Syracuse University, Freeney set a school record with 17.5 sacks in his senior season and his 34 career sacks rank first in school history.^[3] Freeney was the school's premier pass rusher, and once had a string of 17 consecutive games with at least one sack. Against Virginia Tech and Michael Vick, Freeney sacked the elusive Vick 4.5 times in one game.^[4]

While attending Syracuse at a then 255-pounds Freeney has been clocked at 4.40 second 40 yard dash and recorded 40 inch vertical jump. This is one of the fastest times ever seen by a defensive lineman.

Professional career

Freeney was selected by the Indianapolis Colts with the 11th selection in the 2002 NFL Draft. He set an NFL rookie record in 2002 with 9 forced fumbles, three of which occurred in a single game against former Syracuse football player, Donovan McNabb. Freeney was the runner up for the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

When drafted by Indianapolis at 270 lbs Freeney was clocked at 4.48 second 40 yard dash and the same 40 inch vertical jump.

In 2004, Freeney's third season, he led the NFL with 16 sacks. At the end of his third season, Freeney's season marked him as the 3rd fastest player to achieve 40 sacks.

In 2007, Freeney would help the Colts defeat the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI to become NFL Champions.

On February 19, 2007, the Colts placed the franchise tag on Freeney following the expiration of his rookie contract. This move allowed Bill Polian and the Colts front office time to work on a long term contract.^[5] On July 13, 2007 Freeney signed a six-year, $72 million contract with $30 million in guarantees making Freeney one of the highest paid defensive players in the NFL.^[6]

Freeney was fined $20,000 by the NFL for his expletive-laced interview following the end of the Colts 2008-09 playoff campaign which ended with a 23-17 overtime playoff loss to the San Diego Chargers. The NFL cited Freeney for making "inappropriate comments on officiating," according to the Indianapolis Star. Freeney, frustrated by the three defensive penalties incurred as the Chargers made their game-winning drive, told Yahoo! Sports after the game: "Those were the worst [expletive] calls I've seen in a long time ... To have a game of that magnitude taken out of your hands, it's just disgusting. It's not like they made one [expletive] bad call -- it's three calls, in overtime ... They need to start investigating some other [expletive]."^[7]

Personal life

His brother Hugh was a high school quarterback and currently is a math teacher at Rockville High School in Rockville, MD. Freeney also won the annual Madden Bowl in 2003 and 2004.

References

1. ^ http://www.blmfld.org/page.cfm?p=3379
2. ^ Crouse, Karen (January 2007). "Using Quickness, Colts’ Freeney Is Spinning Into Control". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/30/sports/football/30colts.html?_r=1&ref=lawrence_taylor. Retrieved September 20, 2010. 
3. ^ http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/football_records/DI/2009/2009FBS.pdf
4. ^ "Dwight Freeney: The Official Website of the Indianapolis Colts". Colts.com. http://www.colts.com/sub.cfm?page=bio&player_id=121. 
5. ^ http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/IND/10007910
6. ^ ESPN - Freeney's deal cap friendly for 2007, 2008 - NFL
7. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3823511

http://archive.profootballweekly.com/content/archives2001/draft_2001/prospects_freeney_112801.asp

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/2002draft/des/dwightfreeney.htm

http://www.nfl.com

External links

• Dwight Freeney at ESPN.com
• Dwight Freeney at Pro-Football-Reference.com
• Colts profile