NFL free agency is a crazy time where general managers seemingly lose their minds and start handing out mega deals to undeserving players. It's no wonder why football fans are repeatedly hit over the head with stories about clogged salary cap sheets practically every offseason. It's just the nature of the beast, I suppose.
Perhaps no other player best represents this trend than Coby Fleener. The former Indianapolis Colts tight end has been a solid NFL player since being drafted in the second-round of the 2012 NFL Draft. In 60 career games he has caught 183 passes for 2,154 yards and 17 touchdowns. Again, a decent player, but nothing special.
However, that didn't stop New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis from signing him to a whopping $36 million deal. The open market is a "Mad Max"-like wasteland littered with erroneous contracts such as these.
On his way out, Fleener didn't mind taking a few shots at his former ball club, questioning the effort of several players on the roster and saying a lot of his ex-teammates last year were just "along for the ride." Ouch, Fleener. Thems are some fightin' words.
Well, former teammate Jerrell Freeman, who is now with the Chicago Bears, did not take kindly to Fleener's comments. Freeman went off on the tight end in a text message to Bob Kravitz of WTHR.com. Check out his full thoughts on the matter below:
"Fleener, he didn't have the [guts]. That [bleep] pisses me off. And he must've been looking in the mirror when he did the interview.
"I despise guys like that. That's what little girls do, talk about you when you're not around. I'm a grown man. If I see something I don't like, I'm going to go have a face-to-face convo with that player/players and we are going to get an understanding! I feel like I had a hand in building what's over there [in Indianapolis], so he's [bleeping] on me, too.
"That's a bitch move.
"You can print all that, brotha!"
Strong words from the linebacker who was with the Colts from 2012-2015. But can you blame him?
Fleener has never made a Pro-Bowl or been named an All-Pro. He's been a solid NFL player, but perhaps a bit of a disappointment as a second-round pick. The Colts had enjoyed three straight 11-5 seasons with Fleener on the team before finishing 8-8 this past year, so it's not as if Indianapolis was an unstable dumpster fire like other teams in the league.
Sadly, we won't see the Colts and Saints go head-to-head this year unless it's in the Super Bowl. That's too bad. We would have loved to see how Fleener's former teammates treated him on the field.
For more, follow Brandon Katz on Twitter: @Great_Katzby
