The Colts signed defensive end Dwight Freeney to a six year, $72 million contract with a $30 million signing bonus on Friday. The deal makes him the highest paid defender in the history of NFL.
Upon seeing these figures, the first reaction for most people is probably, “The highest paid defender in the league? Freeney’s not the best player in the league!” True, but that’s just the way the market is set up right now, so get used to it.
Personally, I love Freeney. He’s damned near impossible to halt one on one and at only 27, he’s just hitting his prime. He would have commanded even more on the open market seeing as how he’s registered 10-plus sacks every year except 2006 (he finished with six). Plus, he’s a great locker room guy, which is saying a lot taking into account all the hooligans the NFL is producing these days. However, it’s well known teams can pound the ball to his side and do so with a great deal of success. Even in Indy’s impressive defensive performance against the Chiefs and Larry Johnson, Freeney was getting blown off the line and didn’t fair well against double teams. He’s a bit one-dimensional for $72 mil, but once again, the market is set up for free agents and the Colts were extremely smart to pony up for him considering most teams are dying for a sack artist like Freeney.
