Dwight Freeney defied the odds and scouts by spinning his way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Before the start of the 2002 NFL draft much was said about Freeney and how he was not physically big enough to play the role of a defensive end let alone stopping the run.

Skeptics also doubted that his spin move trademark would work against the wall of the opposing team’s big and muscular lineman.

To listening ears of ex-Colts GM Bill Polian and ex-coach Tony Dungy – who saw something altogether different on tape – he was a premium level pass-rusher who would fit perfectly into Dungy’s beloved Tampa Two.

Freeney didn't disappoint. The work performance was the direct reflection of his speed, his creativity in the moves, and he took every motivation to prove those doubters wrong all the way to his lengthy 16-year Hall of Fame career. He will be introducing Colts owner Jim Irsay and some people might not even recognize him because he will be in a wheelchair for the event as he sustained a spine injury from a fall.

“Everyone of us thought that Dwight was capable of being a dominant force in the league,” Polian said to AP. “The spin move was one Dwight executed perfectly and really perfected, so it was fine with us But his base move was the bull rush and he was so strongly built that he was hard to stop I and because he was so fast, he could out run a lot of slow offensive tackles and other guys who were not as strong as him”

Just like any sensible person given the[in the] position of Polian, the Hall of Fame executive, the man just went ahead and followed the plan.

After the blueprint that brought four consecutive AFC championships in Buffalo, Polian devoted his first few years in Indianapolis assembling the offence around Peyton Manning. Finally, by the time Dungy came into the Buccaneers in 2002, what he wanted was defensive players that could put the hurts on the opponents, and the swift Freeney was the perfect answer to his desire.

Dungy concurred. And so when immediately after the selection was made they deemed it as the infamous reach, the Colts could not care less.

Freeney did not.

‘I always had to bring my A-plus game,’ he said, when he was given a retirement send-off. The Jonathan Ogdens, the Drew Breeses, the Tom Bradys, those guys made me bring my A-plus game every time. It brought out the competitor in me that I never knew I possessed. "

However, what the Colts were to learn was that Freeney was going to be very special for the team almost immediately.

Dungy shifted the former Syracuse star to the starting lineup after his rookie season due to his regularity of humiliating the offense linemen, annoying the QBs, creating tackle, and wrecking games.

That season, before the playoff games, Freeney has made 46 tackles and 9 forced fumbles which were both career-high and 13 sacks which were also record though one less than Julius Peppers whom the Carolina Panthers selected as AP Defensive Rookie of the Year and second overall that year. Peppers also will be inducted Saturday though Freeney is listed to speak first.

In those next 10 seasons Freeney completely revolutionized the NFL and Indy’s identity with the aid of a near identical pass rushing counterpart in Robert Mathis who arrived in 2003.

That tag-team tandem immediately became one of the NFL’s scariest pass-rushing tandems, making Freeney even more fearsome. Freeney earned himself the league’s sacks championship in the year 2004 with 16. Two years later Freeney and Mathis were the main pillars on Indy’s Super Bowl victory defense formation.

Not only did they challenge one and other, but they used the understanding of one and other to outdo opponents, also, to teach the younger defensive players how to fight.

“Just like I said that he always wanted to race,” Colts linebacker and assisting coach Cato June on Freeney. “He was super fast and wanted to be the best athlete on the field So you have these battles and you have this young Robert Mathis, who’s just as fast That’s part of the first impressions you have of a guy then when you watch that same guy, day in and day out become an unblockable beast that’s pretty amazing. ”

A historical measure of Freeney’s contribution cannot be overstated as the NFL and America was made a better place by him.

The move he refined out of sheer fun in high school has now become copied all over — to the annoyance of more normal trainers who for years insisted that it could not be done right.

At Freeney’s team and all Indianapolis teammates and coaches, the only thing that mattered was that it was effective — no matter whether it was in the sport’s conventional rules that Freeney was going to violate.

“I was sometimes involved in traveling all day (in basketball), so I could not really do the basketball thing,” He said. ‘Well, the next thing I knew I was on the football field and the coach asked me saying, I don’t care how you get there Dwight, just get there. ’ So when directing I suddenly began to apply spin move and actually continued with it until now it is natural to do it. ”

It did alter the way fans perceived Freeney, that much was for sure.

He departed Indianapolis after 11 years of the team’s service, holding the team record 107 1/2 sacks which is equal by Mathis alone and then give a simple salute.

After the 2012 season, Freeney was released from Colts and he signed with San Diego for two years. He played his last three years in the NFL moving from Arizona, Atlanta, Seattle, and concluded his career with Indianapolis before retiring April 2018.

The final tally: He recorded 350 tackles, 125 and a half sacks, 47 forced fumbles, 7 seasons of ten or more sacks, the Pro Bos selection seven times, all–pro selections three times and the Super Bowl win once.

For Freeney along with other players it was never about statistics or accolades and moreover, the victory of the game. All they ever wanted to do was to show those people that the Colts could beat their way to the success.

Of the first defensive teammate he has seen enter into the hall of fame, former receiver and now coach with the Colts Reggie Wayne said, “Dwight deserves everything he’s getting. ” “We understood if we just put up sufficient points, Dwight was going to be able to let it go. We recognized on third down Dwight was going to make a play for us. We knew the latter players with the spin were going to try and get the ball back particularly, Dwight.