Dwight Freeney is known as one of the greatest pass rushers of all time.
The former Indianapolis Colts star was a five-time All-Pro selection and seven-time Pro Bowler who led the league in sacks (in 2004) and led the Colts to the Super Bowl during the 2006 season. Freeney currently ranks 20th all time in sacks (125.5) and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Freeney took the time to sit down for a one-on-one interview to talk about a range of topics, including his expectations for the Colts, his thoughts on the quarterback battle between Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. (Atlanta Falcons) and his participation in the American Century Championship, the biggest annual celebrity golf tournament. The tournament will take place July 10-12 and be broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
Q: The Colts, obviously they had a good season before Daniel Jones went down with the injury. They were 7-1, beat the Broncos early on in the season. But he suffered the injury, obviously. What are your thoughts going into this season? What are your expectations?
Freeney:I think the Colts have to be pretty optimistic about where they are and where they're going. I think you know it's really tough when you have your starting quarterback go down, and then you had your backup quarterback go down prior to your starting quarterback go down, and then you have to call up a guy who hadn't played football in three years or so (Philip Rivers), come off the street, and try to keep your season going.
Because of all of those factors, I think they have to be optimistic. Because if Daniel was Daniel and the new Daniel, not the old Daniel, the newer Daniel. I think that things could be looking really good for Colts nation. I'm more worried about their defense to make sure that the defense is solid, and if they defensively play well, and Sauce Gardner stays healthy, and he can pretty much shut down one side of the field, then I think you know sky's the limit for where they can go.
I think they're a sleeper team this year. I think people who are just looking at records, they can sit there and say, well, "Oh my goodness, the Colts came out of nowhere." But if everybody remembered what they did the first eight weeks of the season, they're gonna know this is not a big surprise.
Q: Do you think that they're a sleeper team, and I don't hear anyone talking about them amongst the AFC playoff contenders, because they do play in a tough division. The Jaguars are a playoff team, the Texans are a playoff team. Do you think a lot of people are sleeping on them because they don't expect Daniel Jones to replicate last season's performance?
Freeney:I think a lot of it has to do with that. There's a lot of question marks, and that happens to be one of them. Daniel has a lot of data of him not playing great. And then they're looking at the one year that he actually played really well, which was last year, and was that something that was just an anomaly? Is he going to go back to the Daniel of the Giants, or he's going to go back to the Colts pre-injury? And then, how is he after? Is he OK back from being healthy now. What guy is he going to be now? Is he going to be a different guy? Is going to be a pocket passer? Can he still be mobile?
There are a lot of questions, so I can understand people not really knowing what to do with the Colts right now, but if things happen the way that I think it's going to happen, I think they're going to be one of those teams that is humming, and their offense is going to be great. They have Jonathan Taylor, so now you have Daniel Jones, and he's not out there by himself. One of the best running backs in the league behind you, I think that they have a lot of opportunity to make some noise, but I do understand how people are really hesitant, because you just don't know.
Q: Yeah, I think a lot of that has to do with that one season he played well for the Giants. He led them to the playoffs, a playoff win, and he got the big contract. Obviously, the wheels fell off the next season. I think people are thinking of that. Do you think Daniel's more mature now, and he replicates more of what he showed last season?
Freeney:Well look, what a lot of people don't understand is it has a lot to do when you're talking about quarterbacks, it's a lot to do with the system that you're in. How do you flourish in the system? How quickly do you understand the schemes and what the coaches are trying to teach you? Quarterback coach, offensive coordinator, based on the system that you're in. The Giants' system, and the way that from the quarterback position, hadn't been great maybe wasn't complex enough, maybe they didn't have enough downfield threats, maybe they didn't have enough underneath routes, maybe that whole system wasn't great. Shane Steichen has a history of having a great system. A lot of quarterbacks who have been underneath him, they flourished, and that's for a reason.
I don't know if it's a quarterback whisperer or whatever, but the system that they're in, I think it's a pro quarterback system where if you just do the things that Shane requires you to do, you're going to have a good year. And so I think it's a different situation this year for Daniel. He's in his second year within this system, so I think that he's going to be a lot better if his health is there, and if his health is there, he's going to have no problem. He's a veteran guy, being in a system for another year, you're going to be more confident. I think you can kind of separate the two between the Giants and what happened there. All systems are not the same things that you were required to do at the Giants and it's not the same things that you were required to do and will be required for you to do with the Indianapolis Colts.
Q: Dwight, you bring up a great point. Obviously, the Colts are a rather kind of stable organization, even though they've kind of struggled to win the playoff games, but they're around .500 every year. Do you think it was a good idea obviously to bring back Shane Steichen and run it back, all things considered?
Freeney:The grass is not always greater on the other side. People who are quick to get rid of their head coaches and look for somebody new, you can have a disaster on your hands. I feel like Shane is one of those guys that people love, the community loves him, the players love him, the organization loves him. If you look at what happened as him being the head coach for the Indianapolis Colts, he's been in some tough situations injury-wise, like other coaches throughout the league.
They have their rash of injuries, but the Colts have had some injuries in some key positions, Jonathan Taylor went down. They never really had a quarterback to step up within. Then you have Anthony Richardson going down to injury last year, their starter and their backup went down. So there's a lot of things that have occurred for his teams that kind of put him behind the eight ball.
I think he's a positive light for Indianapolis. I think go all in on Shane until….and I've seen a lot of coaches. I think he's doing all the right things, and the big thing is the players buy into his style. If the players are against you and you don't really like his style of coaching, that's another thing, but players will play for him, and that's what they need.
Q: Obviously the biggest thing in the NFL is injuries, right? That's a big determinant of things. You saw with the Colts last year, let's be optimistic, let's say they do remain healthy, Daniel remains healthy. Where do you rank them amongst the AFC teams and are they a playoff team in your mind?
Freeney:I think they're definitely a playoff team if they perform what they did last year. I think defensively that's the big question mark for me. I think offensively they're going to be okay, they're going to be fine. If you remember, they were the top offensive team going into Week 7 or Week 8. One week or two weeks it's happening, you can say it's a fluke, but Week 8 or Week 9, that means they're doing something good, something they need to hold on to. I think that team hopefully will show its face earlier in the year defensively. The question is, will they be able to put pressure on quarterbacks, will they be able to cover guys that they need to cover guys and have the back seven cover and play the run well?
They don't need to be the best defensive team in the league with this offense, but they just need to be something that's consistent in the top 10, ot maybe top 15, the lower half, not on the bottom half of the league defensively, and I think they'll be pretty good this year. Where they rank, I think they're right in the conversation, winning their division, it's going to be a toss-up between Jacksonville and those three things really. But Jacksonville and the Colts, I think Houston's also a good team, they're great, they have great two pass rushers on the end, so it's going to be a battle this year. But I do see them doing well, maybe even getting a wild card if they don't win the division.
Q: Like what you're saying, offense is not the concern, the defense is the concern, right? After finishing 21st during the regular season?
Freeney:Yes, that's where I'm at. Offensively, they have a great system. They will put up the numbers that they need. If Daniel's healthy, somewhat healthy, they have one of the best running backs in the league. He is a versatile guy that will make a lot of things easier for Daniel. It's defensively that I'm a little bit more worried about, just because they gotta learn how to get after the quarterback, and they have to be able to cover these receivers, whether they know how. And I think if Sauce Gardner stays healthy, they have an opportunity to do those types of things, coverage wise. I just need a guy who can get after it, and I don't know if they have that guy yet — with what they've shown me — of a guy who could really just get out to the quarterback.
Q: Your overall thoughts on your former team, the Falcons. They have the quarterback competition with Tua and Michael Penix with Kevin Stefanski as the head coach. What is their ceiling this year?
Freeney:Well, you have a new head coach, so whenever you have a new head coach, it's going to take a little bit for that system to sync in. That's normally how it goes. You have two quarterbacks who are capable quarterbacks. Tua, I'm always worried about, just because of the head stuff. I don't think that when you see something like that, I don't think you ever shake that. Everyone's looking at that as the next, "When's it gonna happen again?" Hopefully that's not in his brain and his mind, and he can go out there and just play the way he knows how you can play.
When you're in a new system, new coach, it's going to take some time. I don't believe a one year fix, all of a sudden playoff contender. The good thing is they're in that division where you might have a .500 team make the playoffs. That's the good thing about that division, with Carolina and Tampa being those teams out there, and the Saints. There's no real standout balling team that you really have to worry about. You have an opportunity to win your division when you do something. After that, I don't know, but I don't know if this is the year
Q: Would you say that Tua or Penix has the leg up in that competition? Who's your favorite in the NFC South?
Freeney:Well, it just depends on the system and what they're going to implement. If it's going to be more of a read zone type of athletic type of situation, then you have Penix, right? If you're going to be more of a pocket passing type of team, I think you have a head coach that knows — I don't know what he's going to implement as far as what their offensive flavor will be — but it's going to be someone who has to be the most reliable. Who has the most mileage on them, has the most veteran leadership type of qualities, that's Tua, right?
He's been in the league longer, he's been a starter longer, but you have that big red flag, and is he seeing bats in the cave when somebody comes and hits them? Is he nervous about that? Those are the types of things that you have to worry about, and when you make this decision. But I believe if Tua is Tua, a more accurate quarterback pocket passer, and if that system that they like, if you want to keep them there in that pocket, I think they can be dangerous. I really do.
I just think that it's all about a confidence thing with him and getting him to the right system that he agrees with, and I don't know yet what system they're going to go with with a new head coach, but if all things are the way it's supposed to be, the veteran guy should be the starter.
Q: And you would probably say this is Tua's last great chance of starting for a good team, right?
Freeney:No, I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say that. You never know, man. You never know what's gonna happen. Quarterbacks go down. Look at Philip Rivers years after being retired Understand the shelf life for a quarterback. Look at Joe Flacco.
That's my point, the ceiling. You never know what's gonna happen. Sam Darnold, you never know what's gonna happen if as a quarterback, because if you can still throw the ball, you might get into a system that agrees with you. You look at this and say this is his last chance, but as long as it's not a health reason, it may not be his last chance.
Q: I gotta ask you as a Pro Football Hall of Famer, who is the best pass rusher in the league?
Freeney:Myles Garrett. It's a real thing, Myles Garrett, but then you got TJ Watt, who's always going to be great, and then the guy that people don't talk enough about is Aidan Hutchinson. I think he's going to be a force.
Q: Let's talk about what you're doing over at the American Century Championship. How good of a golfer are you?
Freeney:It just depends. It's one of those things where when things are good, they're real good. When my game is, I can.. I struggle with consistency, any amateur that's not a professional golfer, right? So for me, I just have to be more consistent off the tee, I have a really good chance of doing some good things. My goal is top 15, in my mind, If I'm anywhere in that realm, I'm really good about where I am. I'm not ready to win it yet. I don't shoot in the 60s yet, so for me, I keep it realistic, and if I can be top 15, I'd be really happy.
Q: Dwight, like you said, you're pretty realistic. I've spoken to a lot of guys about this. Spoke to Jerome Bettis, spoke to Patrick Peterson recently. Patrick brought up his AI app thing, I think that's helping his golf game. Are you also using it?
Freeney:Yeah, I'm using this app, it's called PG1 which is an app that basically uses AI to scan your swing and tell you exactly what your root flaw is, so you can go ahead and fix it, and you don't even need a coach behind you. They just put your phone behind you, and you go ahead and swing, and record your swing, and then it sends you videos on how to fix your root flaw, which has been great. I've been using that technology for a few months now, and hopefully I can apply all the things that it taught me going into this next coming week.
Q: If I were to put you on the spot and ask you, who's your favorite for this tournament, who would you say?
Freeney:I put three guys, really four guys in a bag and toss it up, and whoever comes out, I think it's that's out of Mardy Fish, Joe Pavelski, Steph Curry, or Tony Romo, and those are the four, you know. I think Steph has had some time off, which he could probably be pretty dangerous, because he didn't play in the playoffs this year. We'll see how his game goes, but I know Joe is lethal, and I know Mardy is lethal, so we'll see.
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