Dwight Freeney is visiting the Patriots too!
First Adrian Wilson, then John Abraham now Dwight Freeney. The Patriots are bringing in some of the best veteran defensive players for visits. Hopefully they sign all three!
A Freeney-Abraham duo would be amazing. Both would likely be sub rushers, but teams are playing sub defensive packages nearly most of the time anyway. They could also both be capable of starting if anyone goes down. Depth is probably the most underrated thing in the NFL. You saw what happened last year when Chandler Jones was injured and Jermaine Cunningham was suspended, the Patriots had virtually no one left there other than Justin Francis (undrafted rookie) and Trevor Scott (journeyman).
Freeney or Abraham could hold down the fort very nicely.
Now, onto Freeney since I wrote on Abraham here. A lot of people are saying he has nothing left in the tank because he had a down year last year. I completely beg to differ.
For some reason, everyone is forgetting that Dwight Freeney was always a 4-3 defensive end with the Colts. Last year, they switched to a 3-4. You might be scratching your head saying, "so?". Well for defensive ends, there's a big difference. In a 3-4 he was playing linebacker. His entire career he was asked to pin his ears backs and rush forward at the quarterback, now all of a sudden at age 33 he's being asked to sometimes back pedal and go into coverage. Yeah, he's going to struggle a little bit.
Belichick's biggest strength as a coach is putting players in the best position to succeed based on their skills. That's why you see so many veterans come in and have a rebirth, because he's not asking them to do too much. If Freeney comes, he's only going to ask him to do what he is good at doing. Get after the quarterback.
Please, Bill. Make it happen.
[Update]
As @tomecurran first reported, Colts DE Dwight Freeney is also visiting Patriots along with Adrian Wilson & John Abraham.
— Greg A. Bedard (@GregABedard) March 15, 2013
A Freeney-Abraham duo would be amazing. Both would likely be sub rushers, but teams are playing sub defensive packages nearly most of the time anyway. They could also both be capable of starting if anyone goes down. Depth is probably the most underrated thing in the NFL. You saw what happened last year when Chandler Jones was injured and Jermaine Cunningham was suspended, the Patriots had virtually no one left there other than Justin Francis (undrafted rookie) and Trevor Scott (journeyman).
Freeney or Abraham could hold down the fort very nicely.
Now, onto Freeney since I wrote on Abraham here. A lot of people are saying he has nothing left in the tank because he had a down year last year. I completely beg to differ.
For some reason, everyone is forgetting that Dwight Freeney was always a 4-3 defensive end with the Colts. Last year, they switched to a 3-4. You might be scratching your head saying, "so?". Well for defensive ends, there's a big difference. In a 3-4 he was playing linebacker. His entire career he was asked to pin his ears backs and rush forward at the quarterback, now all of a sudden at age 33 he's being asked to sometimes back pedal and go into coverage. Yeah, he's going to struggle a little bit.
Belichick's biggest strength as a coach is putting players in the best position to succeed based on their skills. That's why you see so many veterans come in and have a rebirth, because he's not asking them to do too much. If Freeney comes, he's only going to ask him to do what he is good at doing. Get after the quarterback.
Please, Bill. Make it happen.
[Update]
According to @realfreemancbs the Pats have "serious interest" in Freeney and people within Pats believe Freeeny has "multiple yrs. left"
— Mike Loyko (@NEPD_Loyko) March 15, 2013
