Dwight Freeney retiring with Colts after 16 NFL seasons
Don’t look for Dwight Freeney to latch on with a Super Bowl contender this year.
After 16 NFL seasons, Freeney is signing a one-day contract to retire with the Indianapolis Colts, the team announced Thursday.
Selected No. 11 overall in the 2002 NFL Draft, the undersized but freakishly quick Freeney was ideally suited for Tony Dungy’s Tampa-2 defense.
Although famed for a trademark spin move late in his career, the younger version of Freeney feasted on opposing tackles with one of the most explosive first steps the league had ever seen. Taking advantage of the RCA Dome’s speedy synthetic turf, Freeney teamed with longtime bookend Robert Mathis to terrorize opposing quarterbacks forced to pass in shootouts with Peyton Manning.
“[Former Colts general manager] Bill [Polian] had seen Dwight and thought he was exactly the guy I had been…