Report: pass rusher extraordinaire Dwight Freeney will play a 16th NFL season

The Atlanta Falcons pass rush is like your favorite drunk uncle. Sure, he’s the object of your family’s frequent ridicule. And sure, he once told you to “put that in your iPad and smoke it!” But he’s your drunk uncle, and you love him.

Solid foundation for a quality pass rush or not, we’re ain’t there yet. That creates the need for stopgap players. As stopgap players go, Dwight Freeney is the bee’s knees. Today we learned Freeney will return for a 16th NFL season.

“You can explain it all you want, but there’s nothing like actually experiencing it,” Freeney said. “Running through that tunnel, hearing your team name, seeing the crowd, seeing the flashes on kickoff. I mean, those are the things that you just can’t explain enough for them to really understand. You have to experience them."

Freeney signed a 1 year, $1 million contract last off-season. I’m sure he’d play for a similar amount or slightly less in 2017. (Interestingly the Arizona Cardinals gave him an incentive-laden deal in 2015; he made about $700k in base salary and later collected an additional $500k.) Plus we know he has a good rapport with the young, up and coming members of the Falcons defense. Freeney is 37 years old now, so the Falcons may need to accommodate him to some degree.

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