Will Dwight Freeney be a first ballot Hall of Famer?
INDIANAPOLIS (BVM) – The Pro Football Hall of Fame had its big celebration in early August as they ushered in the Class of 2022 Hall of Famers. Former players like Tony Boselli, LeRoy Butler and Cliff Branch put on their gold jackets for the first time. Now it’s time to look towards the Class of 2023. Joe Thomas and Darrelle Revis are the two biggest names amongst players who will be eligible for the first time but that list also contains Dwight Freeney. In his 16 seasons in the NFL, he racked up 125 ½ sacks, 332 total tackles and 47 forced fumbles. He made seven Pro Bowls and was a three-time First-Team All-Pro. The Indianapolis Colts legend is certainly someone who deserves to be in the NFL Hall of Fame but the question comes down to whether he’ll put on a gold jacket the first time he is eligible to.
Dwight Freeney’s high school career
Freeney attended high school at Bloomfield High School in Bloomfield, Connecticut. After playing varsity soccer as a goalie his freshman year, the future NFL sack artist switched to football and never looked back. Freeney thrived on the football field, playing both ways but really making his mark on defense. When he left Bloomfield for Syracuse, he held a Connecticut state record for most career sacks (37). Freeney still holds the Bloomfield school record for most career sacks and his No. 44 jersey is retired at Bloomfield. The Hartford, Connecticut native also played baseball and basketball all four years of high school. Freeney had multiple options when it came to college but he chose to continue his football career at Syracuse.
Dwight Freeney’s college career
As a true freshman, Freeney got consistent playing time and appeared in 10 games for Syracuse. He got one-half sack in the Orange Bowl that season and had his first college start against Rutgers. Freeney’s sophomore year was similar to his freshman one. He only started two games but played in 11 and once again had a good showing in Syracuse’s bowl game. This time, it was against Kentucky in the Music City Bowl, he had four tackles and a sack.
Then as a junior, he began to make a name for himself as one of the best defensive ends in the country. Freeney was All-Big East First Team and a Second-Team All-American. Even though he missed the last four games of the season, he still had 13.0 sacks, three forced fumbles and 18 tackles for loss in the seven games he started. Freeney followed up his junior year with another stellar season as a senior. He set a Syracuse single-season record with 17.5 sacks and set an NCAA record for fumbles forced and recovered in a season (11). He even was able to sack Virginia Tech’s Michael Vick 4.5 times in one game and had a 17–game streak of recording at least one sack. The Syracuse defensive end was named All-Big East First-Team for the second straight year and was a unanimous First-Team All-American. Freeney finished his Syracuse career with 34 sacks, 68 solo tackles and 51 TFLs. He is still considered one of the best pass rushers in Syracuse football history and only trails Tim Green in career sacks at the university. Freeney entered the 2002 NFL Draft as a top prospect and ended up being selected 11th overall in the first round by the Indianapolis Colts.
"It happened to be my best individual game of my entire career.”
Dwight Freeney tells @MasterTes how the best game of his career came against playing with a lacerated spleen against Mike Vick’s Va Tech team 🤯 https://t.co/MdzzrK7Fjz pic.twitter.com/Kstiezi1mY
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 28, 2020
Dwight Freeney’s NFL career
The 2002 first round pick was making an impact instantly for the Indianapolis Colts. As a rookie, Freeney recorded nine forced fumbles and 20 TFLs, both leading the league that year and both were career highs for Freeney. He also recorded 13 sacks and 45 solo tackles but was second in voting for AP Defensive Rookie of the Year behind Hall of Famer Julius Peppers. There was no sophomore slump for Freeney. His second year with the Colts was just as good as his first year. Although his stats were down, Freeney still had 11 sacks and recovered a fumble for a touchdown, earning him his first Pro Bowl appearance. Then in his third year, he put the NFL on notice that he was going to be an elite pass rusher for a long time. Averaging a sack a game, the 6-foot-1, 268–pound pass rush specialist led the league with 16 sacks and showed off what would become a trademark of his, the spin move. All of this earned Freeney his second Pro Bowl nod and the first of three First-Team All-Pro selections. Those 16 sacks were also an Indianapolis Colts franchise record that wouldn’t be broken until teammate Robert Mathis had 19.5 sacks in 2013.
🔥When pass rushing you'll encounter different looks from your opponent that require different tools.
That’s why every pass rusher needs a speed, power and counter rush.
Dwight Freeney for example used a dip and rip (speed), speed bull (power) and spin (counter). pic.twitter.com/P9AfhIEP1f
— Craig Roh (@craigroh) June 19, 2022
Freeney would get another Pro Bowl appearance, second straight First-Team All-Pro selection and was second in voting for AP Defensive Player of the Year in 2005. In 2006, Freeney helped the Colts win Super Bowl XLI, beating the Chicago Bears 29-17. He recovered a Cedric Benson fumble that was forced by Bob Sanders in the first quarter.
The franchise defensive end continued to play well in Indianapolis, helping the Colts make it to another Super Bowl in 2009. He also made four straight Pro Bowls from 2008 to 2011 and all got his third and final First-Team All-Pro nod in 2009. However, due to injuries and new Colts head coach Chuck Pagano moving him from defensive end to outside linebacker, Freeney’s production started to decline. In 2013, the Colts announced they wouldn’t re-sign Freeney and he signed with the San Diego Chargers.
When he left Indianapolis, Freeney was the Colts’ all-time sacks leader with 107.5 sacks but Mathis would surpass him with 123 sacks. The Colts great is still the franchise leader in TFLs with 113 all-time.
Freeney spent the next five years playing with the San Diego Chargers, Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks before retiring in 2018. He signed a one-day deal with the Colts so that he could retire with the team that he spent 11 of his 16 seasons with.
He ended his career with 125 ½ sacks, 332 total tackles, 47 forced fumbles, 128 TFLs and was named to the Hall of Fame’s All-2000s team. Freeney is 18th in career sacks and one of only 39 NFL players to officially have more than 100 career sacks.
Dwight Freeney’s Hall of Fame Case
Freeney is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time since he played his last season in the NFL in 2017. Freeney will definitely make it into the Hall of Fame at some point but the question becomes, will he make it as a first ballot Hall of Famer? His former teammate Mathis was a semifinalist for the Class of 2022 but that is as far as he made it. Mathis has two less career sacks, two less Pro Bowls and two less First-Team All-Pros which means Freeney should definitely be a finalist this year. His career is also comparable to Hall of Famer Jason Taylor but Freeney doesn’t have an AP Defensive Rookie of the year or Defensive Player of the Year award.
Along with Joe Thomas and Darrelle Revis, Freeney will have to compete with Demarcus Ware, Andre Johnson, Devin Hester and Patrick Willis. Ware wasn’t a first ballot Hall of Famer last year which doesn’t bode well for Freeney but there is still a chance he can be putting on a gold jacket next August.
Dwight Freeney now
Dwight Freeney was inducted into the Indianapolis Colts’ Ring of Honor in 2019. He lives in West Palm Beach, Florida and recently he appeared on Eli Manning’s ESPN Plus show ‘Eli’s Places’ to talk about his signature spin move.
This episode of Eli’s Places is about pancakes. And football… but mostly pancakes.
New Eli's Places episode debuts tomorrow on @ESPNPlus. pic.twitter.com/qwDTJQHi95
— Eli Manning (@EliManning) August 30, 2022
