Dwight Freeney is a little hacked off at SI.com’s Peter King, who released a “five most fearsome pass rushers for 2010 and beyond” and left Freeney’s name off the list.
From the Indianapolis Star:
“When you put Brian Orakpo — and nothing against the guy, he is 24 — but mention him over me, that hurts your credibility as an analyst,” Freeney said. “I know who Peter King is. But to mention (Orakpo) over me? For him not to mention me in the top five, that is an insult.”
The list included the context, “They’ll chase and drop quarterbacks for the next half decade.” DeMarcus Ware of Dallas was No. 1, Minnesota’s Jared Allen second and Houston’s Mario Williams third.
Perhaps Freeney got edged out because he’s 30. But it still didn’t sit well with him.
“So I guess it’s over?” he said, shaking his head.
Freeney is curious to know who NFL foes would prefer to face, him or Orakpo? “Would you rather see him or would you rather see me?”
“What he needs to do is ask the people around the league in a poll, all of the offensive coordinators and all of the offensive tackles. Ask them: ‘Give me the top five pass rushers.’ If I’m not mentioned in the top five by almost all of those guys, then I’m wrong.”
“Tell (King) to do more research and ask around before he publishes that,” Freeney said. “He should be better than that.”
Ah, is there anything more clichéd then telling a sports writer to do more research? If I had a nickel…
In fairness to King, most defensive ends suffer a decline by the time they reach 31 and older. So if King’s piece was centered on the next wave of pass-rushers, he has reason to omit Freeney based on trends and history when it comes to the defensive end position.
That said, if offensive linemen (and quarterbacks for that matter) do think Freeney is in the top 5, then the Colts’ DE has every right to complain about King “not doing his research.” After all, the opinions of offensive linemen and quarterbacks should be the only ones that matter here unless King was doing an opinion piece entitled, “the next generation of pass rushers.”
In this case, the devil is in the details (of a sports title).
