Inside Blitz: The Mysterious Case of Josh Freeman

The idea for a sports/media/gambling column was hatched this summer and look for it every Wednesday. If you want to yell at me about something that appeared here – because let’s face it, on the internet, it’s outrage or nothing: Jmcintyre at thebiglead dot com.

Remember Josh Freeman?

Hot quarterback prospect out of Kansas State, first round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009, nearly led the team to the playoffs in 2010 when he tossed 25 TDs and just six interceptions, was the opening day starter in Tampa for four straight years and now, at the tender age of 26, he’s out of the NFL.

Rapid rises and precipitous falls happen all the time in the NFL, but Freeman is in an elite group that includes epic busts JaMarcus Russell and Heath Shuler, two 1st round picks who went from opening day starter one year to completely out of the NFL by the next season.

Only Freeman’s mysterious predicament is worse than theirs.

Since the 1970 merger, only three quarterbacks who were 1st round picks started three or more opening days before their 30th birthday and were not in the NFL a year after making the last of those week 1 starts.+ One went to the USFL (Doug Williams); another ended up in jail (Mike Vick).

Josh Freeman is the other.

So what the hell happened to him?

Freeman’s agent said all interviews are being routed through Josh’s father, Ron Freeman, who is a certified NFL agent. In a brief phone call with Mr. Freeman, he told Inside Blitz his son was “working out in Tampa” and not doing any interviews.

I didn’t get a chance to ask him if he’s leery of the media because Freeman was fined $10,500 by Tampa 11 months ago for talking to ESPN.

Freeman was one of a record nine African-American QBs to start on opening day last year. That day, the Bucs suffered a harrowing 18-17 defeat against the Jets after this late penalty helped New York get into position to kick the game-winning field goal. By week three, he was benched by then-coach Greg Schiano in favor of a 3rd round draft pick, Mike Glennon. Freeman was the fall guy on a team that opened 0-3 with the losses coming by a total of six points.

Things got ugly after that: a story “leaked” that Freeman was in Stage 1 of the NFL’s Drug Program, something that was grossly overblown given medications he takes and has exemptions for. Freeman then gave the interview to ESPN in an attempt to clear his name, and the Bucs fined him and hours later cut him. The Vikings picked him up, he saw some action immediately after joining the team in one Monday Night Football debacle and went back to the bench.

Briefly this summer, Freeman worked out for the New York Giants.

Since then, nothing.

There are a couple of decent reasons Freeman isn’t currently on an NFL roster. Maybe he entered his final season in Tampa unhappy he didn’t get an extension, and that mopey attitude snowballed and he needed to be humbled. Maybe we’re just in a period where teams are only keeping two QBs on the roster, not three, as has been the case in years past.

Could it be something else? Remember: At the age of 22 and 23, Freeman put up some really impressive numbers that put him in an elite class at that age.

How has St. Louis not called Josh Freeman?

+ Joey Harrington is also sort of in this group, but he was signed by the Saints on September 19th, 2008, then dropped by the team twice and cut twice during the season.

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Beginning of the End of NFL Pregame Shows?

I remember when NFL pregame shows mattered – pre-social media, pre-smart phone, and definitely in the days before I wasn’t connected to the internet 24/7. Now? I never make time for them. Where’s the value? The games are discussed daily on TV, radio and on the web. Gone are the days where the opinions of former players mattered – and these guys are saying the same things Monday-Saturday on TV, radio and the web. Occasionally, a kernel of news will emerge – Cam Newton won’t dress in week 1 – but that blows up on social media so fast that you don’t need to be watching to find out about it.

We could also discuss the fact that there are four network pre-game shows, all at the same time (College Football Gameday goes up against nothing). Anyway, the point:

One week blip? Beginning of a trend?

I make sure to spend Sunday mornings with my family, and then at 12:45, I’m out: Gotta scarf lunch and get situated for a 6-hour marathon of Red Zone (and the Jets). I stockpile some beverages and a couple protein bars, and I’m ensconced in football until the 4 pm games end. (It would be 12:55, but you never know when a fantasy football website is on the fritz.)

Which network has the balls to test the NFL next year and attempt a 12 pm gambling/fantasy show right before the games? Colin Cowherd is attempting that, but at 9 am, when most people are still shaking off Saturday night hangovers.

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Lock of the Week

Rebounding nicely from Navy’s late collapse against Ohio State in week 1, BYU throttled Texas easily, 41-7 Saturday night. This week’s slate is gross, with a bunch of dogs that look only capable of a whimper (injury-riddled Texas, horrible Purdue, terrible Boston College).

If you want to play the “not as bad as last week” game, then Michigan (-31) has to get a look against a bad Miami (OH) team. Another Big 10 bounce-back team has to be Ohio State -31.5 at home against Kent State.

[Fun fact: The Big Ten went 2-11 against the spread last week.]

Or is the lock more likely to come from the letdown alert group? The following teams registered significant wins last week, and could come out flat (and stay that way): USC at Boston College (+17.5), Virginia Tech at home against ECU (+11.5) and Notre Dame at Purdue (+29).

And home or road, starting QB or backup, it’s impossible not to love Baylor in the first half of every game they play (this week at SUNY-Buffalo, 1st half line not available yet).

Reluctantly, I’m going to offer a double: Central Michigan getting 6.5 against a mediocre Syracuse team (line opened at 9) and the aforementioned East Carolina Pirates on the road against the Hokies.

CMU just whipped turnover-prone Purdue handily on the road, while Syracuse had the week off after escaping Villanova in overtime. Central Michigan returned 19 starters (nine on offense) and is one of the better teams in the MAC.

I couldn’t name a player on ECU. But I do know that the Pirates were within one score of South Carolina last week until the Gamecocks kicked a field goal in the final two minutes. On the road. And here’s a fun Frank Beamer stat for the Hokies: He’s 6-24 in his last 30 games as a favorite against the spread.

Non-lock bonus bounce-back play: Arkansas (+2.5) at sexy Kliff Kingsbury’s Texas Tech Red Raiders. Kingsbury is a media darling, but his Red Raiders are grossly overrated after narrow wins over Central Arkansas and UTEP, the latter which required a TD pass with 2:32 left. Arkansas played a loaded Auburn team two weeks ago and was even for a half (Tigers star QB Nick Marshall did sit out) before losing on the road.

Hate to side with Bret Bielema, but I couldn’t respect myself in the morning if I passed on an SEC team getting points on the road against the Big 12.

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Odds & Ends

ESPN just announced its bowl game lineup for Dec. 31 and Jan. 1: 12:30, 4 pm, 8 pm on the 31st, and then 12:30, 5 and 8:30 on the 1st. The last two games on the 1st (Rose, Sugar) will be the ones that matter – playoff games … Fox Sports with a smart idea: It’s creating a Red Zone for the UEFA Champions League. I wonder if it’ll have the same effect on soccer fans as it does on NFL fans – watching Thursday night, Sunday night and Monday night games are rough with all the constant barrage of commercials. But Sundays 1-7? Nothing on sports television compares … the last US Open on CBS went out with a whimper: Serena Williams won her 18th grand slam while the NFL was on Sunday, and then two relative unknowns met for the men’s title Monday night against the NFL. Perhaps ESPN can get the USTA to push up the event a week so it doesn’t coincide with the NFL. How about having the men’s and women’s Finals on Friday before Week 1?

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Ratingz

The NFL offseason was ugly and arrest-filled (again), but when September 7th rolled around, everyone forgot all of that because of fantasy and gambling and because football is packaged so well on TV. For those of you who care deeply about TV ratings: the Packers/Seahawks season opener Thursday averaged 26.9 million viewers. The Emmy’s last month averaged only 15.6 million viewers. Conversely, the Lions/Giants Monday Night Football opener (7 pm kickoff; wish we had those all the time!) had an overnight TV rating that was slightly down from 2013’s Eagles/Redskins tilt (debut of Chip Kelly, RG3’s return).

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Chris Fowler didn’t go the traditional route to being the play-by-play guy of ABC’s College Football Game of the Week. He hasn’t been announcing high-level football games for 20 or 10 or even five years. He’s the best studio host ESPN has, but it’s going to take some time for him to settle into his play-by-play role that previously held by the legendary Brent Musburger. Fowler had more than a few rough patches calling USC/Stanford Saturday, and this strange touchdown call stood out:

The pair will call Tennessee vs Oklahoma Saturday night in Norman, and that should be a bloodbath, so they’ll probably have a quarter and a half of shtick, which should make for good TV.

[Jason Lisk contributed the research on first round quarterbacks who started on opening day and were out of the league the next year, via info from Pro Football Reference.]