Opening day countdowns are great. So are player profiles. Here at Musket Fire, we decided to combine them and create a Week 1 countdown-oriented, jersey number-dictated player profile series. Several days ago, we looked at No. 58 Darius Fleming, and the day before that it was No. 59 Chris White. Because today marks 55 days until the New England Patriots open 2015, we are profiling No. 55, linebacker Jonathan Freeny.
Freeny had initially been given No. 56, but he has since switched to No. 55.
Bill Belichick likes Rutgers products. He may have cut loose Tim Wright this offseason, but Belichick made it up for by signing the virtually unknown Freeny.
Freeny has spent all three of his NFL seasons with the Miami Dolphins, appearing in 44 games but never starting one. The 265-pounder has 44 tackles and a sack to his name.
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The second Brandon Spikes era coming to an abrupt end earlier this summer could be the reason Freeny makes the team. As Erik Frenz of the Bleacher Report pointed out a week and a half ago, Freeny’s special teams expertise will help him get there.
Another thing working in Freeny’s favor is the iffy statuses of Jerod Mayo and Dont’a Hightower for Week 1.
Injuries at LB are giving James Morris and Jonathan Freeny a ton of reps at LB.
— Doug Kyed (@DougKyed) June 17, 2015
Freeny’s competition will consist mainly of Fleming, Dekoda Watson and Dane Fletcher for the spots behind Mayo, Hightower and Jamie Collins.
Don’t bet your mortgage on it, but the chances are good that Freeny will squeeze on to the active roster.
In case you missed them, here are the profiles for David Andrews, No. 61 Marcus Cannon, No. 62 Ryan Wendell, No. 63 Tre’ Jackson, No. 64 Chris Barker, No. 65 Jordan Devey, No. 66 Bryan Stork, No. 67 Josh Kline, No. 68 Caylin Hauptmann, No. 69 Shaq Mason, No. 71 Cameron Fleming, No. 72 Joe Vellano, No. 74 Trey Flowers, No. 76 Sebastian Vollmer, No. 77 Nate Solder and No. 80 Danny Amendola.
Be sure to check back on Musket Fire tomorrow morning as we celebrate 54 days until Week 1 by profiling No. 54, linebacker Dont’a Hightower.