Brian Spurlock USA TODAY Sports
When Josh Freeman was last seen in a NFL regular season game, prior to Sunday, he was set up to fail. It was Oct. 21, 2013, as the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings in a Monday night road game against the New York Giants. Freeman was signed coming off a bye week a couple weeks earlier, with barely any practice reps as the starter, yet somehow then-offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave drew up a game plan that had the former first-round pick attempt 53 passes.
Freeman of course had little success, with 20 completions for 190 yards and plenty of “funny-if-they-weren’t-so-sad” overthrows of receivers against the Giants. He never saw the field again for the Vikings, with questions about his knowledge of the offense and his overall work habits hanging over him.
The Giants actually signed Freeman in 2014, despite the poor display they witnessed first-hand during the previous season, but they cut him in May of that year. A fairly bizarre scenario played out with the Miami Dolphins this year, with that team cutting him before training camp, re-signing him four days later and cutting him again before Week 1. Freeman then landed with the Brooklyn Bolts of the FXFL, before the injury-riddled Indianapolis Colts signed him last Tuesday.
Freeman started Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans, with predictably mediocre numbers (15-for-28 for 149 yards with one touchdown and one interception; eight carries for 24 yards) as he gave way to fellow recent signing Ryan Lindley in certain situations.
I’m far from betting on a career resurgence for Freeman, but he has now at least been seen in meaningful (which is to say, not preseason) game action again. Based on that, and the overall state of quarterback depth in the league, Freeman should again find his way into a NFL training camp with a chance to earn a backup gig next summer.
Brad Berreman is a Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter.
