{"id":39444,"date":"2018-05-02T16:38:38","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T20:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=39444"},"modified":"2018-08-15T12:05:25","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T16:05:25","slug":"jerrell-freeman-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2018\/05\/02\/jerrell-freeman-retires\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerrell Freeman Announces Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veteran NFL linebacker\u00a0Jerrell Freeman<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0announced his retirement today. Freeman played his last two seasons with the Chicago Bears<\/a>\u00a0and his first four with the Indianapolis Colts<\/a>. Freeman cited “health and family” as reasons for his retirement on his Twitter account.<\/p>\n

Jerrell Freeman Signs With<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Freeman only appeared in one game last season for the Bears. He suffered a concussion and a torn pectoral muscle in the opener against the Atlanta Falcons<\/a>. He underwent surgery<\/a> to repair the muscle and was placed on injured reserve.<\/p>\n

Then, later in the season, he was suspended ten games<\/a> for testing positive for performance enhancement drugs. It was an odd ordeal, in which he came out with a statement claiming that he was taking some type of pills to deal with concussion symptoms<\/a>. He served eight of those games last season, but still had two to serve if he had signed with a new team this off-season.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Freeman was on his way to having a great season. He recorded 110 total tackles<\/a>, three sacks, and a pick-six. Still, he only appeared in 12 games, because of a separate PED suspension.<\/p>\n

Freeman signed as a free agent from the Colts in 2016. Now, ready to move on from the unreliable linebacker, Chicago released him earlier in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An undrafted free agent out of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Freeman became a stud for the Colts in 2012. That year, he started all 16 games, racking up 145 tackles<\/a>, two sacks, and an interception that he took to the house. In his four seasons as a Colt, he never had less than<\/a> 95 tackles.<\/p>\n

Freeman only appeared in 13 games over the past two seasons<\/a>\u00a0and had two strikes for PEDs, and self-admitted concussion issues. Regardless, he had been one of the top linebackers in the league when he was\u00a0on the field.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>