Defensive end Dwight Freeney has agreed to terms with the Seattle Seahawks to join the team for the rest of the season. The 37-year-old worked out with Seattle on Tuesday and it was announced that night he would be joining them.
Freeney has a laundry list of accolades over his career which include seven Pro Bowls, three First Team All-Pros, a Super Bowl ring while playing for the Indianapolis Colts, and a naming to the Pro Football Hall of Fame All-2000s First Team.
It will be Freeney’s 16th season in the NFL after he was selected 11th overall by the Colts in 2002.
For his career, he has recorded 122.5 sacks. He recorded double-digit sack totals in each of his first four seasons as well as seven of his first nine. His 16 sacks in 2004 are his career-high and also were the most in the NFL that year.
Seattle gets help with their pass rush
The Seahawks defense has an excellent reputation, and deservedly so, but they haven’t gotten to the quarterback as much as they’d like to. They have 12 sacks in their first six games, which leaves them on pace to record 10 less than the 42 they finished with in 2016. Only two players (Michael Bennett & Frank Clark) have at least two sacks on the season.
They lost a big part of their Pass Rush when Cliff Avril suffered a season-ending neck injury in Week 4, and he was placed on injured reserve.
Avril made the Pro Bowl last season, finishing with 11.5 sacks, and he had nine in 2015.
They still lead the NFL in allowing just 15.7 points per game, but Freeney will allow the defense to become even more vaunted. Seattle’s 12 sacks are more than only three teams, so expect Freeney to get the majority of playing time on obvious passing downs for the opposing team.
Last season, Freeney was a member of the NFC Champion Atlanta Falcons. While he finished with just three sacks in 15 games, he did record a sack of Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. In 2015 as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, he had eight sacks in only 11 games.
Freeney looks to move up the career sack leaderboard
Freeney’s 122.5 career sacks are the 18th-most in NFL history.
He is just half a sack behind his former Colts teammate Robert Mathis for 17th place. He also may have a chance to surpass Derrick Thomas (126.5) and Rickey Jackson (128). He has 11 career playoff sacks, which are tied for the fifth-most.
It will be interesting to see how much support Freeney receives from the Pro Football Hall of Fame committee once he become eligible for enshrinement.
