With season over, Dwight Freeney will mull over his future
Jan 28, 2016, 3:12 PM
Arizona Cardinals inside linebacker Dwight Freeney talks to reporters cleaning out his locker, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016, in Tempe, Ariz. The Cardinals lost to the Carolina Panthers in the NFC Championship football game to end their season. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
The Arizona Cardinals signed Dwight Freeney hoping the veteran could help with a sluggish pass rush, and he did exactly that.
The 35-year-old who signed with the team in October ended up leading the team with eight sacks while at the same time provided steady veteran leadership to a team that went on to win the NFC West and reach the NFC Championship Game.
It was quite a run for a player who admitted he was about a week away from calling it a career when the Cardinals offered him a job, and now the question turns to what the future Hall of Famer plans on doing now that his 14th NFL season has come to a close.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said Monday as he and his teammates cleared out their lockers following the Cardinals’ 49-15 loss to the Carolina Panthers Sunday night. “I like to give it like a month or so to really kind of like let whatever emotions kind of die down, whether angry or whatever, and try to make that decision, what’s best for me and my family.
“But this has been a great experience and a great ride here. Great fans — everybody’s been great around here. It’s like another home for me.”
Whether or not the Cardinals even want Freeney back is not entirely certain. For as productive as the former Indianapolis Colt and San Diego Charger was in leading the team in sacks while also posting totals of eight QB pressures and seven QB hits in the regular season and four QB pressures and one QB hit in the playoffs, the team may decide to go with some younger players while still looking to improve the pass rush.
In fact, that is the one area that seems to stand out the most with regards to what Cardinals management believes must improve if the team is to reach next season’s Super Bowl. This past season, Arizona finished tied for 20th in the NFL with 36 sacks, nine of which came in one game.
“Create a pass rush,” general manager Steve Keim told Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Monday, less than 12 hours after the team’s season ended. “I don’t care who it is, whether it’s Cam Newton or Aaron Rodgers, you have to affect the quarterback on a lot of snaps, and we weren’t able to do that last night.
“Our back end didn’t play particular well last night, you have to give those guys some help as well. I don’t think we created any pressure, we have to get more physical up front, and that starts with me and I have to do a better job. I will certainly answer the bell and get that started today and try to put a team on the field that all our fans can be proud of.”
It’s possible that plan could include Freeney, though if it does, it’s also possible he would be a late-summer addition to the roster. But then again, if the linebacker chooses to retire, it won’t really matter what the team would like to do.
Asked if it would be tough to walk away knowing he can still play at this level, Freeney said it depends.
“I guess when you’ve played for as long as I’ve played, you’ve tasted a lot of success at different times,” he said. “I love this game, I still do. I just have to be in the right situation in a team that wants me.
“Hopefully it’s here. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I have to evaluate it when I’ll be off the field as well. The hits, how does my body feel? I’ve been, I guess, semi-lucky in a sense — I’ve had some major injuries but I’ve been able to bounce back from them. So I don’t know. There’s a lot of things I need to think about here and that’s why I’d like to take the time to do so.”
